RIYADH — The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program announced that no specific percentage has been fixed for students to apply for the scholarship program. It stressed that the general and specific conditions for scholarships must apply for each track along with obtaining unconditional acceptance from accredited educational institutions. One student can submit applications for more than one track, university or specialty. While citing examples for this, the program explained that a student can submit an application for Alrowad (Pioneers) track to pursue studies in business administration from an accredited university, and submit another application for Imdad (supply) track in another discipline from another university. The program stated that the application can still be submitted for Alrowad and Imdad tracks as well as for the Research and Development track. The applications for the scholarship program can be submitted through the Safir 2 portal via the link: https://safeer2.moe.gov.sa/Portal. The program stated that the following steps can be made while applying for the program through the portal. The first step is registration in the Safeer system, and attaching copies of the national identity card, valid passport, and qualification certificate, and copy of the qualification equivalency decision, if it is from outside Saudi Arabia, along with the official unconditional acceptance letter explaining the assignment clearly, and the date of the start of the study and the name of the university. The applicant has also to attach copies of the academic record and official registration letter from the university and the study visa in case of starting the study, and the registered national address of the applicant. It is noteworthy that Saudi Arabia's new scholarship strategy concentrates on four tracks that will assist Vision 2030 in both current and prospective needs as well as nurturing research and future leaders. The first track, Imdad, targets majors that support the Saudi labor market to fill fields with high demand, including information technology, natural sciences, mathematics and statistics engineering, manufacturing and construction, business management, and tourism. The second track, Wa'ed (Promising), sends students to study in sectors with future promise, including sports, digital economy, public administration, business administration, marketing, and institutional behavior. The third track, Research and Development, sends students to acquire doctorate degrees in advanced fields, such as cyber security, digital currencies, artificial intelligence, sustainability and environmental management, aviation and defense, nuclear energy, intelligent energy management systems, and smart and sustainable cities. The Alrowad track aims to graduate world pioneers in any specialization as long as it is from one of the top 30 educational institutions in the world. The new iteration of the scholarship program seeks to serve the goal of economic diversification at the heart of Vision 2030. The need to diversify Saudi Arabia's exports and revenue streams away from oil and gas toward other avenues, such as tourism and entertainment, is a vital part of the strategy.
