Women account for 26% of Saudi graduates in the US

More than 7,000 Saudi students in the sixth graduating class under the King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Program graduated from various American institutions this year, said Mohammad Al-Eissa, Saudi cultural attaché to the United States.

Al-Eissa pointed out that the female students represented around 26 percent of the sixth graduating class, with 1,868 female graduates.

In his speech at the graduation ceremony held in Washington recently, Al-Eissa said that 1,190 women graduated with master’s degrees, while 139 obtained Ph.D. degrees, accounting for 34 percent of the total number of doctoral candidates.

He commended the women at the attaché for their role in supporting and serving scholarship students.

Al-Eissa stressed the Kingdom’s keenness to support women's higher education abroad through national grants and scholarships.

Saudi graduates this year were divided among the 48 states. Those who attended various bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs included 2,223 graduates in business administration, 1,481 graduates in engineering and 148 medical students who have joined fellowship programs.

Khaled Al-Angari, minister of Higher Education, stated that the number of students on scholarships in the US has increased from 5,000 in 2005 to 100,000 this year, which emphasized the message of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah on the importance of education, the future of young Saudis and the progress of the country.