The number of universities has increased from eight to 20 since Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah came to power.
There are more colleges than ever offering courses in medicine, social sciences and computing.
It was King Abdullah’s wish that all secondary school graduates were able to study at universities, but students have criticized the often harsh nature of the admission system.
Some students who feel they were wronged shared their experiences with Arab News.
Talal Al-Ghamdi is one such student. He said he obtained a secondary school certificate with 95 percent marks and was aspiring to do medicine.
“My dreams were dashed when I got only 60 percent in the standard entrance test at the college of my choice so my grades came down dramatically. I was not able to do medicine and could not get a place at alternative colleges, so I opted for the military sector instead,” he said.
Nawwaf Muhammad also had a problem with the standard test that made him switch from engineering to sociology.
“I never imagined myself as anything else other than an engineer. My parents cultivated this dream in me when I was very young. My graduation grades were 92 percent which greatly decreased after the standard test,” he said.
Muhammad said though he will start his studies in the sociology college at the beginning of the academic year in September, he still sees himself as an engineer.
B. Al-Qahtani, a young Saudi girl whose grades were 100 percent when she received her secondary school certificate and was honored for this achievement in Riyadh province, said her marks came down after the standard test and so she was not able to do medicine or dentistry.
Al-Qahtani said she was offered an internal scholarship by the Ministry of Education to study at a private university but was hesitant because she would be enrolling with other girls whose averages were far less than hers.
Faisal Ali said he was not able to go to university and was offered a place at a community college instead.
“I will not go to this college as it does not pay monthly emoluments to students,” he said.
Tahani, another Saudi girl, blamed wasta (connections) for problems with the admission system. “I obtained a 90 percent pass in my secondary school certificate but was not admitted to any university while my classmates who scored less than me were admitted because they had wasta.”
S. Aba Al-Khail, another high-performer, said not all universities applied the same quality control when it came to admitting students.
“I applied to one of the universities to take my master’s degree and was told I would be accepted if I had a certain mark for one of my certificates, which I did not. I was not accepted while some colleges did not have the same requirement for some of my other classmates,” she said.
Aba Al-Khail noted that some other female graduates with “good” or “very good” grades were accepted for higher studies while she was not. “I am now idle. I am not employed and I am not studying,” she said.
