Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Bin Muhammad, Minister of Education, (Right) tours the International Higher Education Exhibition in Riyadh with the deputy minister of Higher Education Wednesday night. – Okaz photo RIYADH – The continued cooperation between the education and higher education ministries will allow the country to create much needed jobs for graduates, according to Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Bin Muhammad, the Minister of Education. During his visit to the International Higher Education and Universities Exhibition in Riyadh on Wednesday night, he said: “The exhibition is important for Saudi students. I have a lot of ideas which I will present to the organizers of the exhibition, which would greatly benefit Saudi students.” Prince Faisal toured the exhibition accompanied by Dr. Ahmad Al-Saif, President of Hail University, Dr. Ali Al-Attiyah, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and a number of officials. The exhibition aims to create a partnership between universities in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world. This is to help ensure that students benefit from international experience. The exhibition provided models of the academic environment at foreign universities that awaits Saudi students. The exhibition is the largest in the Arab world and the Middle East. It consisted of 300 representatives of foreign universities including those ranked in the top 100 in the world, according to the Shanghai Classification. A total of 30 leading scientific institutions from 32 countries, also participated in the event. The exhibition had a great deal of information for prospective students. This includes a complete list of global institutions of higher learning, and the courses on offer. Over the past five years a total of 80,000 students have benefited from government scholarships, costing the government SR15 billion. King Abdullah has recently extended the foreign scholarship program for another five years. It is estimated that 140,000 students will benefit from the scholarship program in the coming five years, with each course overseas costing the government up to SR1 million, according to reports. Recently, sources at the education ministry said that 70 percent of students who qualify overseas will be provided jobs at local universities, in Al-Qassim, Taif, Madina and Jizan. Hamoud Al-Khamis, Chairman of the Scientific Committee at the exhibition said the committee is coordinating and organizing the exhibition because it is committed to excellence in education. Dr. Hamad Al-Mousa, Deputy Chairman of the Information Committee said 50,000 people had already visited the exhibition. He said local media had played an important role in covering the event, and that organizers had ensured that the media had access to a media center to make their work easier.
