While visiting the United States last week, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman extended the Kingdom’s already expansive scholarship program to all students studying abroad, including to those currently paying their own way. The King met directly with Saudi students studying in the United States while in Washington and made the announcement during his visit.
Saudi Arabia may limit its scholarship program to engineering and medicine.
However, according to a report in the Saudi Gazette, the Ministry of Education is now exploring the possibility of limiting the scholarship to programs in the fields of medicine and engineering.
The study to limit the scholarship program comes at on the heels of a recent Ministry of Labor report, which found a surging requirement for Saudi doctors and engineers and a surplus of workers in other fields.
The goal of limiting the scholarship offering would be to divert resources to high-demand fields for the Saudi economy. A source told the Al-Sharq Arabic daily that if the Ministry of Education decides to limit the majors of study for those wishing to study abroad, “it will begin implementing the decision by the next academic year.”
