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[nomad soul]

Website aims to help Saudi students in US
Arab News | 30 July 2015
Source: http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/783796

JEDDAH: An interactive website to deal with the problems of Saudi scholarship students in the United States has been set up. The website — http://www.saudistudentsabroad.info/ — includes legal and social requirements as well as enquiries related to local laws in the state where the student is studying. The site will serve the needs of thousands of scholarship students in the United States.

Called the Saudi Students Abroad Hub, the website provides all services needed by scholarship students in addition to routine facilities and legal inquiries that might not be known by students, especially those who are leaving the Kingdom for the first time. The website offers a brief legal account of how to deal with investigations since some students have been deported because they have no knowledge of their rights and responsibilities.

Dr. Talal bin Ali Al-Shaer, sponsor of the website, said it offered basic support for students who find it difficult to complete their requirements at the time of entry or exit from the scholarship country. The website features common questions and their answers so that students will have the information when they face any problems. It also encourages students to become good ambassadors for their countries because it teaches them various ways to pay back the community they are studying in.

The website offers phone service or WhatsApp around the clock the minute the student reaches the United States; it also is useful when students are passing through customs, passport control and borders. The website focuses on the US because it is the country with the most Saudi scholarship students. Plans are to expand the service to other countries as well.

(End of article)

[Revenant]

Thread cleaned up.

Folks that can't seem to stay on the appropriate topic and drift into inappropriate ones or simply want to use it as a way to attack others will be shown the door if they continue.

[nomad soul]

On a sort-of-related note...

Saudis ask for changes to US EAP courses
By Kelly Franklin, EL Gazette | June 2015
Source: http://www.elgazette.com/item/217-saudis-ask-for-changes-to-us-eap-courses.html

Since 2009 Saudi Arabia has sent more students than any other country onto US intensive English programmes, largely due to the government’s King Abdullah Scholarship Programme (KASP), which provides all school costs and a healthy living stipend to Saudi youth seeking higher education. The most recent data from the annual Open Doors Report by the Institute for International Education reveals that over 38,000 Saudis studied on US intensive English programmes – over twice the number for second-ranked China.

KASP exists primarily to enrol Saudis onto degrees. However, the general English level of Saudi school finishers is low, so most recipients need extensive English training and often enter intensive programmes in the lowest levels. Many of these programmes in the US would be badly hit if the large numbers of Saudi students were to disappear. Language providers have been concerned since early 2015 when the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM), the Ministry of Higher Education department which administers KASP, sent out questionnaires across the US, resulting in schools being sent guidelines instructing them to make changes to their programmes in order to remain on the SACM-approved list of language schools.

These concerns led to intensive English programme directors in the Washington DC area meeting SACM officials in late April. Points for discussion included limits for tuition charges and an unwillingness to pay fees such as those levied on all students by university hosts that cover health services, IT capabilities, social programmes and more. The directors also discussed SACM directives to restrict class hours from 9am to 5pm, and an eighteen-month limit on total length, with preference for terms shorter than traditional fifteen-week semesters. The Saudis also want schools to alert SACM any time a student’s attendance dips below 90 per cent.

Responding to Gazette queries, a spokesman for SACM director of ESL programmes Fatima al Sulaim said the list of schools approved by the Saudi government to deliver KASP-sponsored teaching was currently being updated, with 90 per cent of schools responding to SACM questions so far. Some language schools had been ‘purged’ from the list, the spokesperson added, due to a lack of ‘major requirements’.

The spokesperson denied that the eighteen-month study limit and payment for health services were new policies, insisting that the government tells KASP students they ‘are provided with health insurance as they go to the USA for their scholarship award, and that they are given twelve months extendible to eighteen as the need arises’.

According to the local English programme directors, the meeting with SACM helped them get a better grasp of the reasons for the new directives, and they hope to continue the dialogue. But for many programmes changes to accommodate the guidelines and heavier reporting demands look to be imminent if they hope to continue hosting KASP students.

(End of article)

[veiledsentiments]

The problem is with the student levels they produce, not the US programs. When you send them students that have studied English for umpteen years and still can't write one grammatical one-clause sentence, no less a 5 paragraph essay, you can't expect them to get up to speed in 12-18 months. They are trying to push the US schools to use their own system of just passing them...

VS

[nomad soul]

[scot47]

I remember Saudi Arabian Airlines pre 9/11 had a very large programme to send apprentices and technical trainees to the USA for English classes and then higher education.

One of the huge problems was that large numbers were sent to the same place and accommodated in the same buildings. They socialised exclusively with other Saudis, but did find out the telephone numbers for Pizza Delivery and Escort Services.

Saudi Arabian Airlines office in Houston was kept busy with speeding and other traffic violations by the Shebab, who were slow to figure out that Saudi wasta does not reach far in the USofA.

The programme was discontinued. Real technicians continue to be recruited in Manila and Islamabad.

[nomad soul]

Speaking of Toastmasters...

Saudi wins Toastmasters debate contest in US
Arab News | 18 August 2015
Source: http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/793071

JEDDAH: A Saudi national won the first prize in "The Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking 2015" with his humorous speech titled, “The Power of Words,” in the US recently. Mohammed Qahtani, a security engineer, was selected among the nine final contestants among 30,000 participants from 100 countries after several eliminating rounds that began six months ago.

Around 2,500 people from around the world attended the event, held at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday. “It’s a dream I never thought would happen in real life,” said Qahtani, adding that he entered the contest for experience and never expected to bring home the trophy. His winning speech was a personal tale about events in his life where “if words had been said differently, they would have elicited a radically different response.” “Your mouth can spit venom, or it can mend a broken soul,” said Qahtani, who grew up being teased for having a speech problem. He said that as a child, he uttered his first word at the age of six.

The contestants delivered five- to seven-minute speeches on wide-ranging topics and were judged on content, organization and delivery. This was the first time in the history of the contest that all three top winners came from countries outside North America. Aditya Maheswaran from Mumbai, India, won the second prize with his speech titled “Scratch” and Manoj Vasudevan from Singapore bagged the third prize with his speech titled, “We Can Fix It.”

Toastmasters International is a worldwide nonprofit educational organization that empowers individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders.

(End of article)

[veiledsentiments]

Not really surprising as I found gulf students to be very talkative and usually their speaking level is significantly higher than their writing/reading levels. And most of them were aware that they were also poor readers/writers in Arabic too. (therein lies a link I suspect...)

Interesting that the top three were all likely to be at least bi-lingual.

VS

[scot47]

Most of the competent speakers of English I met in KSA had acquired a large part of their language from watching movies on TV. Reading was not a significant input.

On reflection that is probably very similar to experiences of students everywhere. Reading books is not cool. Strictly for geeks and nerds.

One of the students I remember, asked me if the story in "The Mask" was based on real life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mask_(film)

[gorkomi]

Yes, it was based on a true story.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask_(film)

[veiledsentiments]

If you check out both of those links provided, it seems obvious that two different films are being discussed here...

VS

[gorkomi]

Which film do you think the student was wondering whether it's a true story or not? A green cartoon man or a boy with a disfigured face?

That poor Saudi student.

[scot47]

He was asking about the one to which I posted the link, ie the one starring Jim Carrey. Certainly much better known than the other one !

Saudis watch a lot of TV in Arabic and in English. However they have a fairly tenuous grasp of the distinction between fiction and non-fiction.

Like our Mechanical Engineering student who was asked to produce a simple report on "The Transformer"

He showed us a number of clips of the Comic Book Show "Transformers" - and thought that was the course requirement fulfilled. He was upset when we failed him and told him to do another assignment.

[nomad soul]

Saudi students in the US to discuss ways to volunteer
By Nicolla Hewitt, Saudi Gazette | August 29, 2015
Source: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20150829254819

As the new academic year begins, over 300 students from Saudi Arabia will gather in Washington D.C. this week to discuss issues facing students from the Kingdom studying in the United States. The students attending the three-day meeting being hosted by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission are all presidents of various Saudi student clubs across hundreds of university campuses in the United States.

One of those who’s been invited to attend the meeting is Yahya Fageehi, the new CEO of “Us to US,” the leading volunteering organizations in the United States for Saudi students. Fageehi, originally from Abha, is studying mechanical engineering at the University of Akron. Speaking to Saudi Gazette about this week’s meeting he said: “I believe that volunteering offers a way to have a real and lasting impact on the world and I'm sure we can accomplish something unforgettable, and explore what Saudi students have to offer.”

This will be the 38th meeting of the Board of Directors of Saudi Students Clubs in American Universities. It’s a meeting that officials from the Kingdom consider a key priority, as it will be held under the chairmanship of Saudi ambassador to the United States. Others attending the session include the Saudi Cultural Attaché in Washington and Deputy Chairman of the Board Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa. Among issues that will be addressed are: educational, cultural, sporting and social activities as well as academic and immigration issues, and overall improvements to be made for the Saudi Students clubs.

Fageehi has been studying in the United States since 2010. He’s one of over 40,000 students from the Kingdom who will call the US home for their higher educational years. For those new to the United States, getting out to meet average Americans in their campus communities is something “Us to US” has been hugely successful in doing.

In his interview with Saudi Gazette, Fageehi said he will be hosting interactive workshops to focus on volunteering, leadership, team management, time management, problem-solving, decision-making and communication skills. He will also make a big announcement that ‘Us to US” which he co-founded just over two years ago, is due to expand to Europe and Asia, with branches opening for Saudi students studying in the United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia and Canada.

The expansion says an enormous amount about the incredible impact this organization has had in the United States. “The goal is to spread the idea of the organization, and focus will be on attracting non-Saudis and the transition to intercultural communication as will as discover a new culture. We will try to make all these countries admires us. Dealing with the communities through volunteerism will add definitely an excellent personal and professional benefits, and they will be exposed to Saudi culture too,” Fageehi said.

This announcement and the three-day workshop come as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman is set to be in Washington next week for a meeting with US President Barack Obama. As two strong allies, the work “Us to US” has done to have Americans and Saudis meet each other in over 40 states across the country says a lot about the positive impact of volunteering.

“I wanted to do this as I wanted to unify Saudis and non-Saudi students interested in positive change in communities. We want to build positive personalities and fill the gap between both cultures,” Fageehi told Saudi Gazette. When asked what he would say to King Salman in Washington if an opportunity comes his way, Fageehi said: “I will say we draw a bright picture of young Saudis, and for our nation in general through field programs in all these countries.”

If the success of their work in the United States is anything to go by, it would seem the announcement of the global expansion of this volunteer program could be a wonderful talking point not just at the White House, but across the Kingdom and around the world. Students from Saudi Arabia care, and education isn’t just reading books, it’s about helping those in need and understanding them too.

(End of article)