Among the graduations taking place at American Universities this year have been Saudi students. There are presently about 43,500 Saudi students studying in the United States. More than 4000 of these student graduates were scholarship students among the King Abdullah Scholarship program.
In my opinion the scholarship program is one of the best programs available for not only Saudi’s youth but as a mechanism for developing closer ties in the US-Saudi relationship. The scholarship program provides the Saudi student the opportunity to attend American Universities where he or she is exposed to American university life, new curriculums and disciplines and integration into American culture and life.
The Saudi scholarship students who return to Saudi Arabia are the new generation of trailblazers. They return to the Kingdom with bilingual capabilities and armed with new knowledge and ways of thinking. Many Saudi students gain exposure to courses in Philosophy, Theology and strategic thinking that is not available in the Kingdom. They also have been exposed to new business practices and ways of using technology.
The questions I have which I do not know the answers have to do with the returning student or the graduating student. I wonder how many Saudi students became members of fraternities or sororities during their studies? What kind of positions do these students return to? How is the student using what he or she learned in the United States? What was learned? What were the important lessons?
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