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desertfox
Joined: 14 Jun 2015
Posts: 120
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 Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2016 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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Amerrycan Muslim- you are undoubtedly correct that the Saudis have been hoodwinked for years by western providers, and not just in the education system.
The Saudis have probably learnt (or are now learning) that just throwing money at development projects in a bid to "catch up" with the west is not in itself sufficient to get the kind of progress that they need.
Instead they often end up with providers who promise the earth, but lack the means or the will to deliver, and are motivated primarily by the lucrative deals that were common in the Middle East.
The birth of the CoE's may well have been a reaction against this trend after years of disappointment and disillusion.
The problem is that the bankruptcy of the neo liberal approach doesn't deliver either. And the crime is that the main victims of a system like that are the students, who deserve a lot better.
Maybe the problem is not so much money, but the lack of efficient governance from the Saudis themselves. |
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Balzac
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Posts: 266
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| Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2016 5:36 pm Post subject: |
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| desertfox wrote: |
Amerrycan Muslim- you are undoubtedly correct that the Saudis have been hoodwinked for years by western providers, and not just in the education system.
The Saudis have probably learnt (or are now learning) that just throwing money at development projects in a bid to "catch up" with the west is not in itself sufficient to get the kind of progress that they need.
Instead they often end up with providers who promise the earth, but lack the means or the will to deliver, and are motivated primarily by the lucrative deals that were common in the Middle East.
The birth of the CoE's may well have been a reaction against this trend after years of disappointment and disillusion.
The problem is that the bankruptcy of the neo liberal approach doesn't deliver either. And the crime is that the main victims of a system like that are the students, who deserve a lot better.
Maybe the problem is not so much money, but the lack of efficient governance from the Saudis themselves. |
Well said. The Saudis have a lot to answer for. |
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Balzac
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Posts: 266
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Amerrycan Muslim wrote: |
| Desertfox and Balzac, I won't disagree with your posts. And I am sympathetic to the students where I am and the wider student body around KSA who are being pushed towards these providers. For the most part, and there are exceptions, these providers are as you both have stated and it feeds into the idea that most Saudis (and probably Arabs for that matter) believe that if it's from the West then it's best... They have a bad habit of being hypnotized by anything shiny and glittery... |
Amerrycan Muslim,
yes I think we are all broadly in agreement. There is a certain hypnosis for Saudis and Arabs in general who tend to believe that western ideas, products and working practices (professional & personal) are the best and therefore should be emulated or adopted.
This tends to make them susceptible to the various lucrative marketing strategies the western snake oil salesmen offer on visits to the education ministry in Riyadh.
Anyone who has spent any amount of time in the kingdom knows that the Saudi way of dealing with a problem is to throw money at it in the hope the problem will go away. Sadly, on this occasion, it hasn't and keeps bouncing back.
Maybe one day the Saudis will get wise to this and adopt a different strategy. I won't hold my breath though.
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No Place Like Home
Joined: 27 Apr 2016
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 10:27 am Post subject: |
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Personally, I would be really interested to know what the tax-payers who fund these so-called NGOs feel about their money being spent on luxury housing, free shopping buses, employees organising or attending illegal parties, abuse of equipment such as flipping company pick-ups over in the desert 'for fun', and generally acting like a major embarrassment to the organisations, institutes and countries concerned. And that's without even considering the lack of professionalism in the classrooms and appalling behaviour in social situations.
And of course, all the perpetrators and worst examples are the names you are now seeing at other institutes around KSA or the Middle East. I predicted this some time ago on another thread. |
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Aletheia
Joined: 11 Jan 2018
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 8:31 am Post subject: Re: Generous Housing Allowance-no more |
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| I know of a Maltese manager who is doing just that now. Downsizing from a high end compound costing 240,000 SARs a year in the centre of Riyadh to one costing half that. He's also looking to move his kids into a cheaper school! |
What lies! I am not Maltese. I did not 'downsize" and I never considered moving my children from the British School in Riyadh!
This message and so many others of yours concerning the TTC & its staff, is cynical, erroneous, fake news. |
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sicklyman
Joined: 02 Feb 2013
Posts: 930
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| Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 9:06 am Post subject: Re: Generous Housing Allowance-no more |
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| Aletheia wrote: |
| fake news. |
er... what's not subject to debate is that it's old news. You're responding to something that was posted in 2016.
Aletheia means "truth" in Greek... |
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desert_traveller
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:00 am Post subject: |
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| i thought this thread was about "Generous Housing Allowance-no more" |
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Balzac
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Posts: 266
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| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 7:48 am Post subject: |
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By Jehovah,
Yes you're right desert_traveller. It seems the Malteeser is both off topic and 3 years late with his reply. No change there then - still behind the curve 
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