Several young Saudi men and women who are pursuing their higher studies in US universities expressed joy and satisfaction over the royal order to include 2,628 more students in the King's Foreign Scholarship Program. "We have received these glad tidings on the occasion of the visit of Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense, in this holy month of Ramadan. These royal gestures would be a big morale boost to Saudi students who are proud of representing their great nation in this part of the world," they said in remarks to the Saudi Press Agency. Abdullah Bu Basheet, who recently obtained his bachelor's degree in informatics from the George Mason University, said the Saudi youth who were pursuing studies at their own expense in the US are overjoyed with the royal order issued during the visit of the Deputy Crown Prince. "The foreign scholarship program is one of the best educational programs in the world that is instrumental in bringing out a new generation armed with specializations in various branches of knowledge useful to the nation and the people." Kouthar Baqatada, a female student at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C, urged fellow scholarship students to concentrate on studies and pool their free time and hard work in obtaining specializations that are more in demand in the local employment market, keeping pace with the unique development boom, being kick-started with Vision 2030. Turki Abdullatief, another student doing his computer degree course at the University of Columbia in Washington D.C., said: "These fatherly gestures have come as a big relief for the sons of the nation who are struggling to meet their educational expenses in their pursuit to secure the best education from world class universities. The announcement made by the Deputy Crown Prince in this regard would be extremely motivating for students, especially junior students who joined universities after completing one year language course." Abdullatief, who is the president of the Saudi Students Club, is also working as a volunteer at the Saudi cultural attaché to serve his fellow mates. Ahmad Al-Maymooni, an IT student at Marymount University, said that the Kingdom is at the threshold of a giant development leap, thanks to Vision 2030. "This necessitates all students to reap the fruits of the scholarship program by exerting all their energies to play an acting role in the nation-building process," he said. Al-Maymooni came to the US to accompany his wife when she was included in the scholarship program to do her master's degree from Mount St. Mary's University. "This gave me an opportunity to continue my university studies, and specialize in IT under the scholarship program," he added.
