S. Arabia suspends scholarships at 4 Jordanian universities over high number of already enrolled nationals

AMMAN — The Saudi higher education ministry has decided not to send students on scholarships to four Jordanian universities as of the upcoming academic year.

Saudi Arabia’s cultural mission in Amman addressed the Higher Education Ministry stating that it will stop sending its nationals to the University of Jordan (UJ), the Jordan University of Science and Technology, Yarmouk University and Balqa Applied University.

In its official letter, a copy of which was made available to The Jordan Times, the Saudi mission said this decision was taken due to the high number of Saudi students already enrolled at these universities.

This was also confirmed by a mission official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The decision was made by the Saudi ministry and it will start as of the 2015-2016 scholastic year,” the official said, without elaborating on whether this decision will be reconsidered next year.

According to figures posted on the Higher Education Ministry’s website, Saudi students make up the largest number of Gulf Arab students at Jordanian universities.

According to the latest available figures, which are for the 2012-2013 academic year, 2,826 Saudis were enrolled in the Kingdom’s universities, followed by Omani students (1,029) and Bahraini students (678).

Ministry officials were not available for comment despite several attempts by The Jordan Times to obtain more recent figures.

However, at UJ alone, there are currently 445 Saudi students, 397 from Kuwait, 145 from Bahrain, 22 from Oman, 16 from Qatar and 13 from the UAE, according to University of Jordan President Ekhleif Tarawneh.