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Galileo Saudi Arabia Program <strong>Newspaper</strong><br />

In 2005, King Abdullah<br />

implemented a<br />

governmental scholarship<br />

program to send young<br />

Saudi nationals to<br />

Western Universities for<br />

undergraduate and<br />

postgraduate studies.<br />

By Haya AL-Dossary<br />

In 2005, the Custodian of the Two Holy<br />

Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz<br />

implemented a governmental scholarship<br />

program to encourage young Saudi students to<br />

enroll in undergraduate and postgraduate<br />

programs in Western Universities. King<br />

Salman bin Abdul-Aziz has also extended the<br />

program to be included in the Saudi 2030<br />

vision.<br />

The idea of Overseas Scholarship<br />

Program began to embrace the light upon the<br />

visit of King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz to the<br />

United States. At that time, he had met the US<br />

President George W. Bush. That visit<br />

emphasized the deep and solid relations and<br />

mutual respect between the two countries.<br />

Therefore, the two governments agreed to<br />

overcome obstacles to facilitate entry<br />

procedures to the United States. Saudi<br />

students become able to obtain US visa easily.<br />

The agreement also resulted in the royal<br />

decree which grants scholarships to Saudi<br />

students to meet the requirements of the Saudi<br />

labor market.<br />

Obviously, this program is characterized<br />

by a variety of orientations and science<br />

majors. The diversity of the educational<br />

sources has become the cornerstone of the<br />

Saudi scholarship policy. This reflects the<br />

philosophy of encouraging undergraduate and<br />

graduate students to enroll in highly-ranked<br />

universities. The United States and the other<br />

27 countries such as Singapore, Japan, New<br />

Zealand, the United Kingdom, France,<br />

Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands,<br />

China, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, and India<br />

got the opportunity to enroll Saudi students in<br />

their educational system.<br />

In fact, the program is composed of three<br />

phases. During its first and second phases,<br />

there was a significant expansion for the<br />

scholarship of bachelor degree students. The<br />

rest of the phases focused on the student's<br />

scholarship in masters, doctorate, and medical<br />

fellowship levels. Four years after the start of<br />

the program, the first phase has completed. In<br />

the US, there were 19206 Saudi students. This<br />

represented the highest peak in the history of<br />

scholarship to the US.<br />

Accordingly, the Ministry of Higher<br />

Education has implemented this program,<br />

which is considered to be the largest in the<br />

history of Saudi Arabia, in their strategic<br />

plans. The Saudi Cultural Mission also has<br />

supervised all the external scholarship<br />

programs. The Saudi mission in Washington<br />

DC started its effective supervision upon the<br />

arrival of the first student on the ninth of<br />

August 2005, as the first recipient of this<br />

program in America.<br />

In 2008, the program began to reap the<br />

rewards of graduates. The mission celebrated<br />

the graduation of the first batch of this<br />

program which was 236 graduate students.<br />

The program continues to honor the Saudi<br />

graduates year after year, giving them<br />

commemorative medals and awards of<br />

excellence. Saudi citizens hope to see the<br />

impact of the program on Saudi education<br />

before the end of 2030 vision.<br />

" The education in Saudi<br />

Arabia is the necessary base<br />

which will help realize the<br />

aspirations of our people<br />

towards progress and<br />

advancement in science and<br />

knowledge "<br />

King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz<br />

15

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