Education, Careers & Professional News
Education Official Calls on US to Simplify Student Visa Procedures.
An official of the Ministry of Higher Education here has stressed the need for easing US visa restrictions on Saudis as it would pave the way for the exchange of students, academicians and researchers between the two countries.
We do understand and share US concerns for safety and we support the US in its fight against terror. But the current restrictions are compelling our students to go elsewhere for higher studies, while our academic system is patterned on the American academic system, Saad A. Al-Hagan, public relations manager at the Ministry of Higher Education, told Arab News.
He hoped that both countries would turn over a new leaf in their relations in the wake of the landmark visit of Crown Prince Abdullah to the US. Al-Hagan said that Saudis felt comfortable with the US educational system since they got used to it over the decades.
In the wake of these restrictions, it has become difficult to pursue training and academic research programs in the US.
Pointing out that the 60-year-old Saudi-US relations were laid on a solid foundation, the official said. It is normal in international relations to go through stresses and strains. That does not mean the two countries should remain fixated on a dark chapter in their history. We should learn to overcome a crisis and move forward.
He added that besides higher education, the impact had also been felt on investments, tourism and in the field of health care.
According to Western Illinois Universitys Institutional Research and Planning, 292 foreign students sought admission to that university in 2004, down from 392 in 2001.
The largest single drop in student population as a percentage concerns Saudis. In 2001, according to IRP was home to 20 Saudi students. Last year, there were only three.
Generally, enrollment figures for the 2004 academic year depict Western Illinois University as a healthy, growing student body. One demographic, however, stands out in the steadily increasing university population: the number of international students attending Western has decreased 25 percent over the last four years.
The decline is part of a national trend due in part to new immigration restrictions implemented by the US State Department after 9/11 that make it increasingly difficult for foreigners to obtain student visas for travel to the United States.