In order to ease some of the confusion resulting from the realignment, Dr. Awad Alyami of the Academic Accreditation, Authentications and ESL at the Saudi Arabia Cultural Ministry spoke at a Q&A session.

He confirmed that the government of Saudi Arabia is still committed to intensive ESL programmes as an entry point into new cultures and new experiences, through at least 2020.

SACM is now “bridge averse”

Alyami also emphasised that SACM relies on these English language programmes to “provide a smoother transition” to graduate education for the 96,000 students that have been sponsored by this programme since it began in 2005.

The scheme also relies on the English language programmes to encourage critical thinking among students, force them to leave their “comfort zones” and to understand the ways in which the US educational experience differs from that in the Gulf States.

One major change to the programme is the creation of a central advisor unit to replace the regional advisors whose recommendations were not always consistent with the rules and goals of the programme.

SACM also continues to actively discourage the saturation of Saudi students in certain geographical regions, schools or areas of study, confirmed Alyami.

When asked what SACM looks for in ESL programmes, he responded, “reporting and communication” in an “uninterrupted flow”. He went on to explain that this flow would include attendance, which he said was connected with good grades.

When asked about conditional admission for students who want to go from the ESL programmes to academic programmes, Alyami responded that SACM is now “bridge averse” because so many of its students speak and understand spoken English, their writing skills are lacking and many of the bridge programmes do not address this issue, he claimed.

He added that he expects the ministry to come up with new policies on the “bridge issue” and also advised the stakeholders to check the SACM website for any changes to the overall programme.

Alyami’s associate, Dr. Tarig Eltayeb, explained some of the upcoming trends for academic concentrations. Sponsored majors are determined by the ministry, based on the needs of the country. Health science programmes have enjoyed government support in recent years but the new emphasis will be on “hands-on training programmes for the workforce”, especially in the teaching field, said Eltayeb.

Private language schools which are not contracted with these academic institutions will be added eventually

In mid-January, SACM expects to launch a portal on its website that will allow both students and educational programmes to communicate better with the ministry.

Initially the portal will only include acceptable colleges and universities as defined by US News & World Report’s top 200 schools (expanded from the top 100). Private language schools which are not contracted with these academic institutions will be added eventually.

Eltayeb acknowledged that using the US News list may work against liberal arts undergraduate institutions that concentrate on teaching rather than research.

He added that the list is also problematic because “75% of the top 100 schools don’t have conditional admissions processes” forcing students to apply only to the remaining 25%,  before promising that the issue will be revisited next year.