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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 />
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