Over 10,000 Saudi Students US- Bound

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Over 10,000 Saudi Students US- Bound

23/10/2005

By Omar El Okeily & Najah al Osaymi

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- More than 10,000 Saudi students will travel to the US to attend university as part of a government-sponsored program following the adoption of new measures by the Ministry of Higher Education aimed at facilitating travel procedures for Saudis. In total, 21,000 Saudis are expected to take part in the program in the next four years.

Prospective students can submit their applications to the Ministry of Higher Education through a Ministry special office or its website for nine different specializations and will be able to benefit from assistance with their visa applications at the US embassy and its diplomatic missions throughout the country.

Fahd al Manur, a student who decided to enroll in the program told Asharq al Awsat, “I do not fear traveling to the US since Americans are a friendly people. Relations between our two countries have greatly improved recently and travel procedures are easier nowadays after being almost impossible following September 11th 2001.” Studying in the US would be a dream come true, he added, despite recent events. King Abdullah’s visit earlier this year strengthened bilateral relations and “reassured Saudis.”

Currently studying in the U.S., Mohammad al Mateeri described the initiative as an important step and described how in eight years of living in the US, “I have never been hassled, save for an increase in security checks to which a country is entitled to when protecting its citizens.”

His wife, Afaf, also a Saudi national, confirmed that Americans have been very friendly to the couple and treated them with respect. Once, however, she was detained for 24hours at a Washington D.C airport after a short visit to Saudi Arabia because of a mix up in names but was treated with respect and courtesy.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks on US cities, several Saudi students were detained around the U.S. Bandar al Qowaifal, who left home at 18 to attend university in America recalled his arrest. “After al Qaeda’s attacks, I was arrested for one whole month and extradited to Saudi Arabia . They didn’t have anything against me except some minor irregularities in my visa I hadn’t paid attention to. I am waiting for the right to time to go back to the US and resume my studies.” After applying to the exchange program and benefiting from relaxed visa procedures, Bandar is now back in the US studying at his own expense.

A PhD student, Saad al Sowaylim told Asharq al Awsat he was eagerly awaiting his return to the US to complete his degree, despite living through a difficult time while studying at John Hopkins University , three years ago. He felt it was important to correct the wrong impression some Americans had of Arab students in their country.

The Minister of Higher Education assist those already accepted in US universities by providing them with bank guaranteed and a recommendation to facilitate US embassy visa procedures.

Sources at the Ministry told Asharq al Awsat that the number of applicants who hope to attend US universities has reached 15,000 thousand, with the majority studying for B.A degrees.

Half of the prospective students will be sponsored by Saudi businesses to further their knowledge in a given field making use of bilateral treaties offering Saudis a number of opportunities in U.S. universities across the country.


http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=2323

[mylittledemon]

I dont know about that one. Sounds like a bad idea to me. Lets allow 10,000 people of a generation that has been bred to hate us (in general) to come here, learn our ways, and then take us over. Ah hell, I'm just being paranoid because of this hurricane weather I guess.

[Brwn_eyes0511]

I dont know about that one. Sounds like a bad idea to me. Lets allow 10,000 people of a generation that has been bred to hate us (in general) to come here, learn our ways, and then take us over. Ah hell, I'm just being paranoid because of this hurricane weather I guess.

exactly! Not paranoid!

[SuzeQuze]

It would be really great if American businesses would sponsor Americans in college. Ten thousand seems like way too many since there is a limit to how many people can be enrolled and it seems Americans will miss out.

[Brwn_eyes0511]

It would be really great if American businesses would sponsor Americans in college. Ten thousand seems like way too many since there is a limit to how many people can be enrolled and it seems Americans will miss out.

Wow. We agree Suze!:)

Of course I think there are a lot of qualified Americans missing out every enrollment period do to current Affirmative Action laws...but I'm sure we don't agree on that! :D

[Jyqm]

Wow. We agree Suze!:)

Of course I think there are a lot of qualified Americans missing out every enrollment period do to current Affirmative Action laws...but I'm sure we don't agree on that! :D

Oh please. Show me statistics from one presitigious university where a minority is grossly overrepresented by under-performing students.

[Jyqm]

It would be really great if American businesses would sponsor Americans in college.

It would be better if American colleges didn't cost $30,000+ to enroll each year.

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Oh please. Show me statistics from one presitigious university where a minority is grossly overrepresented by under-performing students.

It's basically just common sense. Whenever a University actively prefers and/or peruses minorities based on the stance that it is necessary to compensate for disadvantages, then you know that perhaps those who are highly qualified...but HAPPEN to be a white male...are not being fairly considered.

However my main beef has to do with the fact that it widens the gap in academic qualifications between different ethnic groups who happen to be attending the same university by granting admission to preferred students based on lower requirements.

And not to mention...equal protection clause!

[strandinthewind]

I dont know about that one. Sounds like a bad idea to me. Lets allow 10,000 people of a generation that has been bred to hate us (in general) to come here, learn our ways, and then take us over. Ah hell, I'm just being paranoid because of this hurricane weather I guess.

On the flip side and though I am not for giving any foreigner a break when thousands of our own kids are left out in the cold - this could be a way to demonstrate to those 10,000 that Americans are not the bad people the propoganda in their country told them we were.

[SuzeQuze]

It would be better if American colleges didn't cost $30,000+ to enroll each year.

No kidding. And something tells me those Saudis will be paying a pretty penny to go to school here. :rolleyes:

[Jyqm]

It's basically just common sense. Whenever a University actively prefers and/or peruses minorities based on the stance that it is necessary to compensate for disadvantages, then you know that perhaps those who are highly qualified...but HAPPEN to be a white male...are not being fairly considered.

However my main beef has to do with the fact that it widens the gap in academic qualifications between different ethnic groups who happen to be attending the same university by granting admission to preferred students based on lower requirements.

And not to mention...equal protection clause!

So let me get this straight: Your argument is that white males are being discriminated against by universities, and this is based not on any statistics that you've seen - presumably because you haven't seen any at all - but on the premise that "it's basically just common sense?"

Sorry, buddy. That ain't gonna fly. And this is the worst example yet of you spouting off some conservative talking point that you believe for no other reason than that somebody told you so and you think it "makes sense." And you wonder people don't take your arguments seriously sometimes.

You're actually claiming that highly-qualified white males are somehow discriminated against by the American university system. Do you have any idea how ridiculously laughable that statement is? It sounds like something Lamb and Lynx might sing about.

Let's do a little research, okay? Here's a document I found about race in the US from the 2000 Census webpage: http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-1.pdf
Now, according to Table 1 on page 3, 62.5% of Americans in 2000 were non-Hispanic whites. Let's assume that percentage is the same today (it certainly hasn't gone up). And let's assume it's the same across all age ranges (although it's likely somewhat lower among college-aged people, since the white folks ain't the ones with the highest birth rates in the past 20 years). For that other 37.5% we've got: 12.5% Hispanic, 12.3% black, .9% Native American, 3.6% Asian, .1% Pacific Islander, and about 8% miscellaneous or bi-racial.

Now, it's going to be slightly problematic comparing national census data to specific universities, since most people tend to go to college close to home, and different states have different levels of ethnic diversity. But let's check out the University of Michigan, since they were at the center of the most recent Supreme Court case about affirmative action policies. Actually, it was Michigan's law school, but I couldn't find their ethnic make-up on the website, so we're going to have to settle for the undergrads. Here's your data sheet: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/obpinfo/files/umaa_freshprof.pdf

Now, we're looking at freshmen enrolled in Fall 2004, okay? That's 3,774 white students out of 6,040 total. For those of you who don't want to do the math - and I promise you, I didn't calculate this before I decided to use this school as an example - that's 62.4%. Amazing, isn't it? Somehow, at this school that has become notorious for affirmative action policies, whites are not under-represented. Incredible. And the percentage is even higher if you discount the 310 foreign students who aren't counted in the ethnicity survey. I'll you who is under-represented, though: Hisanic Americans made up just 4.3% of the total freshman class last year, and black Americans 5.7%. Those are far less than half of their respective percentages in the total population. In fact, the only minority that is over-represented is Asian Americans, at 11.6%. Somehow I don't think those Asian kids are terribly underqualified, though. And as far as gender goes, Michigan's enrollment is about 50-50, only slightly favoring women, which makes sense since women make up about 51-52% of the US population.

Now, you tell me what your brilliant "common sense" says after looking at some actual facts. And we could do this for almost every university in the US. You take any school in the top 50 on U.S. News and World Report's infamous annual list of the best American universities, and I will be shocked if any of those schools have Hispanic or black populations that come close to those groups' populations in the country or region at large.

Now run away and hide behind your beloved Ronnie and Anne if you want to. But don't you dare spout any more of your completely ignorant bull**** around here if you don't have something to back it up with besides your precious f***ing "common sense."

Ridiculous.

[Brwn_eyes0511]

So let me get this straight: Your argument is that white males are being discriminated against by universities, and this is based not on any statistics that you've seen - presumably because you haven't seen any at all - but on the premise that "it's basically just common sense?"

Sorry, buddy. That ain't gonna fly. And this is the worst example yet of you spouting off some conservative talking point that you believe for no other reason than that somebody told you so and you think it "makes sense." And you wonder people don't take your arguments seriously sometimes.

You're actually claiming that highly-qualified white males are somehow discriminated against by the American university system. Do you have any idea how ridiculously laughable that statement is? It sounds like something Lamb and Lynx might sing about.

Let's do a little research, okay? Here's a document I found about race in the US from the 2000 Census webpage: http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-1.pdf
Now, according to Table 1 on page 3, 62.5% of Americans in 2000 were non-Hispanic whites. Let's assume that percentage is the same today (it certainly hasn't gone up). And let's assume it's the same across all age ranges (although it's likely somewhat lower among college-aged people, since the white folks ain't the ones with the highest birth rates in the past 20 years). For that other 37.5% we've got: 12.5% Hispanic, 12.3% black, .9% Native American, 3.6% Asian, .1% Pacific Islander, and about 8% miscellaneous or bi-racial.

Now, it's going to be slightly problematic comparing national census data to specific universities, since most people tend to go to college close to home, and different states have different levels of ethnic diversity. But let's check out the University of Michigan, since they were at the center of the most recent Supreme Court case about affirmative action policies. Actually, it was Michigan's law school, but I couldn't find their ethnic make-up on the website, so we're going to have to settle for the undergrads. Here's your data sheet: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/obpinfo/files/umaa_freshprof.pdf

Now, we're looking at freshmen enrolled in Fall 2004, okay? That's 3,774 white students out of 6,040 total. For those of you who don't want to do the math - and I promise you, I didn't calculate this before I decided to use this school as an example - that's 62.4%. Amazing, isn't it? Somehow, at this school that has become notorious for affirmative action policies, whites are not under-represented. Incredible. And the percentage is even higher if you discount the 310 foreign students who aren't counted in the ethnicity survey. I'll you who is under-represented, though: Hisanic Americans made up just 4.3% of the total freshman class last year, and black Americans 5.7%. Those are far less than half of their respective percentages in the total population. In fact, the only minority that is over-represented is Asian Americans, at 11.6%. Somehow I don't think those Asian kids are terribly underqualified, though. And as far as gender goes, Michigan's enrollment is about 50-50, only slightly favoring women, which makes sense since women make up about 51-52% of the US population.

Now, you tell me what your brilliant "common sense" says after looking at some actual facts. And we could do this for almost every university in the US. You take any school in the top 50 on U.S. News and World Report's infamous annual list of the best American universities, and I will be shocked if any of those schools have Hispanic or black populations that come close to those groups' populations in the country or region at large.

Now run away and hide behind your beloved Ronnie and Anne if you want to. But don't you dare spout any more of your completely ignorant bull**** around here if you don't have something to back it up with besides your precious f***ing "common sense."

Ridiculous.

:laugh: Poor baby!

I suggest you read this book...
http://www.regnery.com/books/meninblack.html

or this one...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300107757/103-8041404-7276646?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance

You do read, right?