Like Nigerians, Saudi students abroad face drop-out

Just as it is with state-sponsored schooling in Nigeria, many Saudi students may drop out of foreign universities due to the crunching economic effects of falling oil prices.

In 2015, many Nigerians across different countries of the world, were reported to have been soliciting private funding, following the refusal of government to fund their scholarships.

The same predicament is set to befall thousands of Saudis, who may be forced to abandon their dream of studying overseas because of the oil price crash.

With its budget under enormous pressure, Saudi Arabia is having to cut back the generous scholarship program that supported 200,000 students abroad in 2015, CNN is reporting.

The realities of the oil market are forcing the Kingdom to tighten the rules of the $6 billion King Abdullah scholarship fund, limiting it to those attending one of the top 100 universities globally, or studying a program rated in the top 50 in its field.

In Nigeria, the state-funded scholarships have also suffered similar fate, with National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) not meeting its obligations to scholars.

Osho Samuel, a graduate student of mechanical engineering in the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, told TheCable in 2015 that over 200 Nigerian students were on the brink of deportation following the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency’s (RSSDA) failure to fund scholarships.

The head of RSSDA said at the time that the scholarships could not be funded due to the rapid decline in crude oil prices.

The Saudi government did not specify the scale of the cuts, but said the new conditions are part of its efforts to save money. It is cutting overall spending on education by 12 percent this year.

The program was founded in 2005 and covers full tuition, medical insurance, a monthly stipend for living expenses, and an annual round-trip airfare for undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students.

Previously, there were few restrictions on where and what Saudis could study. Roughly 90% of students from Saudi Arabia studying abroad are supported by the fund.

Almost 60,000 Saudi Arabian students enrolled at US universities in 2015, making them the fourth biggest group of foreign students in the US, behind students from China, India and South Korea.