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SAUDI STUDENTS ABANDON STUDIES IN U.S., LOOK ELSEWHERE
JEDDAH, Nov. 11 (IslamOnline
& News Agencies) -- About 300 Saudi students have cut short their university
studies in the United States and returned home, an official at the Saudi Embassy
in Washington said in remarks published Saturday, news agencies reported Sunday.
Some 5,500 Saudi students --
3,500 of them on government scholarships -- had been studying at U.S.
universities before the deadly September 11 attacks, deputy head of the Saudi
embassy's information center, Mahmoud Qattan, told Saudi Al-Watan daily,
according to Arab News.
Most faced visa and
immigration problems, Qattan said. He played down the effect of harassment and
maltreatment of Saudis since the attacks on New York and Washington.
Hundreds of Saudis have
returned from the United States and complained of widespread abuse, harassment
and maltreatment mainly by government agencies, said Arab News.
An undisclosed number of
Saudi nationals have been taken for questioning over the attacks in New York and
Washington, and several of them remain in police custody.
Recent reports indicate that
scores of Saudi students in the U.S. have moved to the American University of
Beirut and other Lebanese institutions after Sept. 11.
Several of the 19 presumed
hijackers in the unprecedented jetliner bombings, which killed almost 5,000
people, allegedly carried Egyptian or Saudi passports.
The Muslim Students’
Association (MSA) of North America could not be reached Sunday for comment.
There is an increasing
tendency among Saudi and other Arab students to discontinue their studies in the
West and look for "safer" destinations in the Far East, especially
Malaysia, according to Arab News.
At the ongoing International
Trading Expo at the Alhamra Commercial Center, Corniche, several Malaysian
colleges and universities have been receiving an increased number of inquiries
from Arab students and parents, especially Saudis, for admissions to
undergraduate and postgraduate studies. The two-week expo ends on Thursday.
"Students and parents
visiting us have been mostly inquiring about the facilities available in our
country for undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD courses,” Sheeda A. Bawthan,
chief executive officer of International Expo Management Services, told Arab
News.
“A few parents have evinced
keen interest in transferring their children who are already through the first
year of the college education in the U.S.," she added.
Bawthan, who is leading a
group of Malaysia’s public and private universities, colleges and technical
and management institutions to the expo, said her country had been attracting
many overseas students over the years, much more so in the post-September 11
situation.
"Parents planning their
children’s education in the U.S. no longer wish to send them there nor to
Britain. That’s how Malaysia has become a preferred destination for
them," she added. "We’re delighted at the prospects as our country
has already become a popular destination for tourists from this part of the
world."
She said Malaysia had a dozen
leading universities, both in the private and public sectors, including
International Islamic University, Multimedia University, University Putra
Malaysia, Limkokwing Institute of Creative Technology and Binary Business
School.
While Putra Malaysia is 50
years old, University Selangor was the first private university established 10
years ago. University Tenanca is another recent private university. The country
also boasts an international college of music, and a technology and design
center.
The country has 20 private
colleges, all conducting courses with English as the medium of instruction in
different fields including business, accounting, IT, engineering and medicine.
The Malaysian France Institution offers technical courses including automotive,
on a diploma basis, according to Bawthan.
She added that overseas
students, especially from this part of the world, would find education in
Malaysia cheaper than in the West. For instance, the tuition fee for an 18-month
master’s degree course in economics costs SR3,000. A four-year engineering
degree course costs $13,000 inclusive of all fees and living expenses, while a
three-year degree in business studies could cost $1,000 less.
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