Okaz/Saudi Gazette

Riyadh — Some 10,000 Saudi students will be sent abroad for higher studies annually under the foreign scholarship program, Minister of Education Muhammad Al-Issa said on Sunday.

He made these remarks after signing agreements with 28 government universities in this regard.

The minister said 2,500 seats will be allocated annually to universities for a period of five years.

The agreements strength the universities’ capacity to send more students on scholarships abroad, he said.

Issa said more conditions and regulations have been drawn up for the scholarship program.

Qualitative specializations will be given priority in the future phase of higher education. This covers artificial intelligence, cyber security, IT, health and medical specializations.

The minister said faculties of technology can also benefit from the foreign scholarship program.

He said discussions will be held with officials of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) about the scholarship program.