SAUDI ARABIA AROUND 1500 STUDENTS STUDYING THROUGH THE YEMEN BASED UNIVERSITY OF SANAA SATELLITE CAMPUSES IN JEDDAH AND RIYADH ARE UNABLE TO RECEIVE THEIR ACADEMIC DEGREE AS THE AGENT WHO COLLECTED THE STUDENTS FEES IS MISSING WITH STUDENT FEES OF SR 40 MILLION SINCE 2011 JEDDAH: IBRAHIM NAFFEE 7th august 2013 At least 1,500 students studying through the University of Sanaa’s satellite campuses in Jeddah and Riyadh were denied academic certification after an agent responsible for collecting student fees allegedly absconded with more than SR40 million, according to university and Yemen court documents obtained by Arab News. Judge Abdulhameed bin Abdulrassaq Al-Mehbashi of the Yemen Ministry of Justice’s Court of Public Funds suspended the program until the university collects the funds, according to court records. The university has been attempting to collect the fees since 2011. University Chairman Khaled Al-Tumaimi complained in a letter to Abu Bakr Muhammad Al-Qurbi, Yemen Minister of Foreign Affairs, that the university had a hired agent, whose name is being withheld by Arab News, to collect student fees for the distance learning program and deliver 50 percent of the funds to the university. Funds estimated to be at least SR40 million were never delivered. The judge’s suspension of the program left at least 1,500 students without academic certificates in undergraduate programs through the university’s distance learning program. The university’s failure to deliver the certificates has complicated the residency status of numerous expatriate students from Yemen, Syria, Eritrea, Jordan, Palestine and Sudan. The students need their Bachelor of Arts certificates to correct their residency status and change their professions during the amnesty period that ends Nov. 3. “I am still waiting to get my bachelor’s certificate after I suffered many problems with the university to submit my examinations,” said a female student who spoke to Arab News on the condition of anonymity. Anowar Al-Yamani, admissions department manager at the university’s Riyadh branch, told Arab News of the university’s plans to issue certificates, but asked for time. “The University of Sanaa will send all academic certificates to its students in the Kingdom who have documents proving that they paid university fees to the university’s agent in the Kingdom,” Al-Yamani said. “However, this issue is very complicated and we need time to resolve it.” According to Al-Tumaimi’s letter, the Yemen Public Funds Court issued a summary judgment that stated that it assigned “a representative from Sanaa University to collect education fees and any other fees paid through the distance learning program in Saudi Arabia and preventing the (agent) from collecting any sum of money. The representative is to pay half of the sums to the (agent) for operation. The other half is to be deposited in the Central Bank to avoid public-property losses.” University officials attempted to collect the money from the agent by sending university representatives Abdullah Al-Adla to Riyadh and Esam Al-Harasi to Jeddah. However, the Yemen Embassy and Consulate allegedly thwarted their efforts, according a to letter from the university. The university asked the court to direct the embassy and consulate to allow the university to collect its fees and to prevent the embassy and consulate from collecting any money. As a result, Abdullah Abdullah Al-Faqih, acting chairman for the Cultural Department for the Yemen Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered the embassy to allow Al-Adla to collect the fees on behalf of the university. Yemeni Ambassador Ali Al-Ayashim did not respond to Arab News’ request for comment. Bandar Al-Qataa, a Yemeni lawyer who said he is representing university students to file a court case against the Jeddah university campus, said, “More than 85 percent of students in the Kingdom plan to transfer their documents to other universities, but they need to restore their documents from the university (of Sanaa) and have a certificate of studied hours equivalency.”
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 02:09:28 +0000
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