Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that the number of Saudi students now studying in the US has reached 60,000. Of these, 18,700 are in the scholarship program initiated by King Abdullah. Twenty-two percent of the scholarship students, 4,200, are female.

The vast majority of students—and all of this year’s graduates—are in technical or medical programs. That’s well and good, but I’d like to see more students in liberal arts programs. Saudi Arabia is undergoing vast social change. Technical studies are not likely to provide context for Saudis to address change; that comes from studies in sociology, anthropology, history, literature and even theology.

Saudi scholars in US at an all-time high

WASHINGTON – The number of Saudi students on scholarships abroad has gone up from 5,000 to over 60,000 in the four years since the inception of the King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Scholarships Abroad Program.

The figures were cited by Minister of Higher Education, Khalid Al-Anqari, at a graduation ceremony in Washington Sunday for 1,072 students at US universities through program. The graduates, Al-Anqari, noted, were all students of technical and medical subjects.
…