This move follows a diplomatic incident that arose after the ministry limited the universities in Australia where graduate students could study to the so-called Group of Eight major schools, which includes Australian National University and the universities of Melbourne and Sydney.
The move was perceived as a slide against Australian universities outside of the elite schools, according to a report recently in The Australian.
On the heels of this spat came this decision to limit the number of scholarships to Saudis seeking to study abroad. On Wednesday a spokesman of the department of scholarships in the ministry was reported as saying that the ministry took the move because the number of students in these universities has exceeded the decided quotas.
The spokesman, as quoted by local daily Al-Watan, did not specify the quota but said the decision would be effective with the beginning of the next academic year, which starts September 2011.
According to him, the universities to which the Kingdom will not send more students are in the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan and Jordan.
Under the national foreign scholarship program, a large number of Saudi students are currently doing their higher studies in a number of foreign universities at the expense of the government.
The spokesman said the decision to stop sending more Saudi students abroad covers a number of popular Egyptian universities. The decision also covers nine government and private universities in Jordan, two in Malaysia, seven in Pakistan and 25 in Australia.
“The piling up of Saudi students in these universities means that they will not benefit from their studies and average grades will go down. Hence there will be no more approvals for Saudi students to go to these universities,” the spokesman added.
Regarding the spat Down Under, the Saudi Cultural Mission in Canberra reported that the Saudi Minister for Higher Education Khaled Al-Anqari directed its universities to limit scholarships to just the most elite schools in the country, The Australian reported.
Universities Australia (UA) had expressed its “deep concern” at the Saudi stance and asked the mission for a clarification and retraction.
The mission has since clarified to students that the policy is a preference to have more graduate research students studying at Australia’s most elite schools but that students won’t be required to move out of those not in the group.
According to an English translation of the mission’s letter, obtained by The Australian, Cultural Attache Ali Mohammed Al-Bishri said scholarships for trainee academics are going to Australian universities of “medium or low levels” and it would be better to limit them to the Group of Eight.
The letter continues: “His highness states that he is worried about the low level of these universities.” In response, UA Chairman Peter Coaldrake has written to Al-Bishri, telling him he has been “misinformed on the relative standards of universities in Australia.”
