Saudi Arabia Woos Foreigners With New Visa Scheme
Saudi Arabia is looking to attract foreign students after launching a new educational visa scheme in the country.
The Kingdom’s Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have introduced the educational visa program to attract academics and students from overseas and further boost higher education in the country.
The new visa service was announced alongside the Human Capacity Initiative conference being held in Riyadh this week.
Saudi education visa
Minister of Education Yousef Al Benyan witnessed the launch of the service, which is designed to simplify the process for foreign students to come to Saudi Arabia to pursue further education.
Integrating efforts of the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs makes it easier than ever for international students who want to study in the Kingdom obtain the right information and visa to pursue education goals.
The new “Study in Saudi Arabia” platform simplifies overseas admissions for students looking to travel internationally to study in the Kingdom.
It also offers listings of short and long-term study opportunities and academic and research programs with recognised Saudi universities.
After being accepted to a university students must also apply for a study visa in the Kingdom.
According to the platform, there have been more than 100,000 international graduates and universities in the Kingdom have students and teaching staff from more than 170 countries.
Students accepted to study in Saudi Arabia are studying:
- Bachelor’s degree: 80 per cent
- Masters and PHD: 12 per cent
- Diploma and Higher Diploma: 8 per cent
