Faris Al-Qahtani Okaz/Saudi Gazette RIYADH — Saudi cultural attachés have been gathering for the last three days in Riyadh to discuss challenges to their work and the students they look after. Their seventh forum, which opened at the headquarters of the Ministry of Higher Education in Riyadh on Sunday and will conclude today (Tuesday), came up with recommendations to tackle staff shortages and under-par infrastructure. Deputy Higher Education Minister Ahmed Al-Saif, who attended the opening ceremony, said the ministry is determined to provide the attachés with a sufficient number of qualified cadres to end staff shortages. Al-Saif said the ministry would also boost the basic infrastructure of the attachés and extensively support students' activities. He said the ministry will continue to buy buildings to house the attachés to spare them the trouble of paying monthly or annual rents. "The ministry has recently bought buildings for the cultural attachés in Jordan and Ireland," he said. Abdullah Musa Al-Tayir, the ministry's supervisor of attaché affairs, said the government department is planning to set up a special unit to supervise non-academic activities of the students. "These activities will be carefully planned according to the instructions of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who directed us to take good care of the Saudi students studying abroad and to open our doors to them," Al-Tayir said. The program of the forum includes meetings with representatives from the ministries of interior and foreign affairs. The Kingdom has 37 cultural attachés around the world looking after the affairs of more than 150,000 Saudi students studying abroad. There are about 114,000 Saudi students studying on government scholarships in the US, excluding those studying on their own expenses. Mohammed Al-Issa, cultural attaché to the US, said about 80 percent of the problems facing students in America are related to immigration issues. He said the problems have greatly decreased with the opening of an electronic gate. He said: “Apart from the immigration issues, most of the problems facing Saudi students in America stem from students shifting from one university to another without permission or being dismissed from the university or the English language institute. “There are also some family problems that we had to intervene in.” Al-Issa pointed out that there were no problems facing Saudi students in America relating to terrorism. Ibrahim Al-Balawi, cultural attaché in France, said there are more than 2,000 Saudi students studying there. “Most of their problems are normal and connected to university admissions,” he said. Saudi cultural attaché in Britain Faisal Aba Al-Khail said the number of the Saudi students there has reached more than 13,000. He said: “They are not facing any major problems. “They are excellent in their academic studies and a real source of pride for the Kingdom.”
