JEDDAH: The government plans to restructure its scholarship program in the United States to prevent students from studying the same subjects, and ensure they enroll at universities where they can mix with people from other cultures.

Mohammed Al-Eissa, the cultural attaché in the United States, said he has sent a list of new academic programs to the Saudi Education Ministry to which students can apply, according to a report in a local publication recently.

He said that students had, after initial skepticism, realized that it was important to ensure that they are enrolled in diverse undergraduate and postgraduate programs, and for them to interact with people from many different cultures.

Al-Eissa said one of the goals of the scholarship program is to ensure that Saudis get more than just a university education but also gain knowledge about how other people live.

The Education Ministry was not intending to disrupt anyone’s study overseas, but was acting on reports that many Saudi students were enrolled for the same subjects.

It was also necessary to prepare students for the labor market. Leading companies are looking for people who are top performers in needed disciplines, he said.

However, Al-Eisaa said Saudi students were performing well in America, including publishing research. There were recently five students who had done so in top journals, he said.

Abdul Ghani Al-Harbi, assistant for academic affairs, said that having too many students in certain programs would affect the quality of their work. There were 25 students studying for the same bachelor's degree, 15 for the same master’s and five for the same doctoral studies.