The Saudi authorities should start career planning/ counseling programs for Saudi students. It is very strange that such a large number of Saudi students go abroad every year to pursue higher studies and most of them return with no less than a Ph.D. I believe that only Ph.Ds. alone cannot run a country.

The government must promote different trades and vocations. Unfortunately, this is a phenomenon not unique to Saudi Arabia. In most of the developing nations, people are inclined toward some selected professions like medicine and engineering etc.

The Saudi government has all the resources to design its economy according to its needs. Most probably this trend may not affect the Kingdom in the short term but in the long run these foreign educated people themselves will become a burden on the economy. The economic gurus must think on these lines in the larger interest of the country.


Ahmed Ali

Jeddah