I wonder at times about government providing scholarships and never following through with the administration and the well being of the students. Many of our governments still insist on sending the students to USA. I am not saying that the US education is bad or anything, but what am saying is that we do not really say anything if a student goes to low raked or no ranked university in US for the simple reason of being a US university, but when it comes to other countries all the government become hawks and wonder at ranking, quality assurance and what not. Also the schools in US? These are a different kettle of fish , students having I20 and reaching there to see no one writing for them in the airport or taking them to their Homestay, nor to the students have anyone wires ring for them at the airport, while in other countries there is a code of practice for international students, and there is ratings for those that send the students, and rating for the universities that accept the students Nd international students can complain if they do not receive all the rights that are mentioned in the code.
We have a student that reached the school and they told him that there is no space for him, and the school moved him to another school. Of course our helpless student can only accept that or return, and what about his fees, and all the money he incurred until reaching there. Of course this student is part of king ABDULLA scholarship programme, and he is supposed to away for the first three months from his money, then gets accepted by SACM. Now this SACM is a story by itself, they told the universities and the schools that they should not pay the consultants their fee, so who is taking the fee of our hard works. We find the students, we counsel the student, we help in visa, and we get the student there, we spend our money for that, pay staff and pay office recent and expenses, and what happens next the scam oaf SACM takes it all. I am not saying that all the staff of SACM are crocks!! That could be large statement to put forward without proof. I don't have proof, but I have hearsay from the people the work at the institutions. Thus both us the consultants and the students both fall into this deep hole. The student goes to a bad place (noting the calibre of the student he or she will not be accepted to a top ranked university and not even a second tier one) gets humiliated and then may find himself back to his home country or in a different school and loses his money; and us the consultants lose majorly.
The conspiracy theory is that, those that work for SACM (I am picking on them now, but I can generalise this statement to all the countries that send students abroad and has Cultural attaches that look after the students in station) hate their jobs as its badly paid, to solve the dilemma they get their money out of the universities, and find that the consultants are successful in sending to good places so they have to kill the consultants by making them close down. What a scam?? Beware guys, even if I have to sell my cloths, jewelry and car, I for one will not stop my valuable work. The trouble is, who is there in Saudi to listen to me? Or do the QA on their SACM offices?
Sorry my regular readers. This blog is to relieve my brain, as it's going to explode. The time we waste in talking to the schools about this problem outweighs the time we spend on the students. I have hired a new person just to write to the schools and solve this. I for one, is going to close down my USA division for Saudi students, as to me they are in deep S.H.I.T.
Hey Suad,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Ali, I'm also in the King Abdullah scholership program. I graduate in 3 weeks! I plan start work right away. But I'm interested in law school: will it be difficult to qualify again for the scholership? Is it easier for me bc I finished my bachelor's under this scholership?
you may need to email me as I cannot see who you are from the comment, however the reply is yes, its easy to get the Saudi scholarship, just get an admission and submit it to SACM.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone needs to complete and submit their application to a university to gain admissions, I'd be more than willing to help! Please contact me at sacmadmissions@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI am a american and participate in the Homestay program , for 10 years we have hosted to international students, without any problem. We are verified though the school and recieve the pay directly from the school not the student. Lately though , we have been recieving a higher percentage of Saudi /Quatar students, We enjoy them at first , and then sooner than later they want to know what the school is paying us to host them , then they want to cut a deal directly with us and not go through the school. I found out the reason is they want to pay less for housing and in some cases move into private apartments with about 6 or 7 other students ( same country ) so they can pocket the extra housing money . I have also seen them consistently fail basic courses so they will have to keep retaking the course to stay longer. This is dishonest and dangerou..
ReplyDeleteDishonest because u sign a contract to stay with a host family and then leave suddenly without warning causing the host family financial stress, because at the end of the day Hosting is a business.
Dngerous because the students customs are not the same as the states , and while host families generally love learning about different cultures , there are some Americans who don't. You need to learn the layout/ law of the your host company integrate it into your thought process so you can make wise decisions. All that Glitters is not Gold.
Amen to Anon from 10/16. I have hosted to students , and it got so that is all I would recieve was Saudi Students. Some well behaved but most were not . If I did not make a deal, so they could pay me 10.00 a day they would leave!! I had some who would visit their friends steal my dishes and food to take to their friend's hostel. I had one crazy one , who would go search through my room , and take my private things, When he did not get his way he would break and scratch up my furniture. Not to mention refusing to shower in the tub , he basically showered in the middle of the floor and damaged all the bathroom walls and floors. Thank god I have grown sons !!!!! This whole scholarship program needs reworking. The good side is the good saudi students i have had were respectful and dilligent students. Some of the students from the english learning schools , actually get accepted into a university , they go home for the summer , and come back and sacm chose another university. Is this because they don't want to pay the consultants?
ReplyDelete