A new problem for expat students. Expat children who have graduated from universities abroad say they can’t endorse their certificates at Saudi embassies without having job contracts in the Kingdom. Many expat students find it difficult to get jobs in the Kingdom. Some prefer to postpone their job hunt in the Kingdom to pursue a postgraduate program. Still, Saudi embassies refuse to endorse their certificates if the graduate student cannot provide a job contract. This procedure has been implemented in 2006 when expat graduate students could still easily find jobs. The implementation of the Nitaqat program in 2011 that encourages Saudization of jobs complicated expat’s job prospects in the Kingdom. “I graduated this summer from a Jordanian university. I have endorsed my certificate with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said Omar Mahmoud, a Sudanese student who lives in Jeddah. “At the same time, the Saudi Embassy in Amman refused to endorse my certificate if I didn’t have a job contract in the Kingdom. I am currently in the Kingdom where my family lives. I am also looking for a job in a private company located in the Green Zone of the Nitaqat program. It will be hard to find a job because most companies are looking to hire Saudis.” Many expats in the Kingdom send their children to study in universities in Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Yemen. Some students do not care to have Saudi embassies endorse their certificates because they have a recognized certificate from a reputed university so they feel they will have no trouble finding a job with a private company in the Kingdom. “I graduated in 2007 from the American University in Cairo. Now I work for a private company in the Kingdom. I did not endorse my certificate at the Saudi Embassy in Cairo. No company in the Kingdom has ever asked me to follow this procedure,” said Emad Mamdouh, an Egyptian resident who works in Riyadh. Another group of expat students living in the Kingdom, especially women, prefer to pursue a degree via a distance-learning program. Many recognized universities around the world offer such programs. However, the Saudi authorities refuse to endorse their certificates. “The labor sector must also accept distance-learning graduates and support them because there is no difference between distance-learning and face-to-face learning,” said Gráinne Conole, professor of learning innovation at the University of Leicester in the UK at the third international conference on quality assurance in post-secondary education.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 16:51:16 +0000
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