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Saudi Arabia Opens Local Universities for Students from Around the World

Saudi Arabia has launched a new initiative to bring in students and researchers from around the world to study in Saudi universities. Photo: Al-Imam University
Saudi Arabia has launched a new initiative to bring in students and researchers from around the world to study in Saudi universities. Photo: Al-Imam University
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Saudi Arabia Opens Local Universities for Students from Around the World

Saudi Arabia has launched a new initiative to bring in students and researchers from around the world to study in Saudi universities. Photo: Al-Imam University
Saudi Arabia has launched a new initiative to bring in students and researchers from around the world to study in Saudi universities. Photo: Al-Imam University

Saudi Arabia has launched a new initiative to bring in students and researchers from around the world to study in Saudi universities, and benefit from the various academic curricula in its colleges, universities, and institutes.

Minister of Education Yousef Al-Benyan opened the forum on the “Study in Saudi Arabia Initiative” on Monday, in the presence of ambassadors, diplomats, and representatives of international organizations.

The forum aims at showcasing the details of the initiative and the accompanying exhibit exploring the opportunities to bring exceptional students from around the world to study in Saudi universities.

The Minister said Saudi Arabia is a major destination for scientific research and innovation, and that the unlimited support provided by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has helped guaranty a special and sustainable research environment.

Al-Benyan invited the ambassadors and diplomats in the Kingdom to explore the educational opportunities and various academic programs to open the door for collaborations with distinguished researchers from different fields.

He also noted that joining the academic programs in Saudi universities enables international students to benefit from the new curricula and advanced facilities, and offers chances to interact with various cultures and enjoy new experiences and rich educational journeys.

“Bringing students, researchers, and interns from around the world to join the Saudi higher education institutions is an integral part of the kingdom’s view to develop the educational sector and boost its international position. It also contributes to fulfilling the fourth sustainability goal (good education), and boosting students’ flow from around the world and promoting scientific and cultural exchange,” he explained.

Al-Benyan also shed light on the care given to the Arabic language as a universal language, and how Saudi Arabia is the perfect destination to learn it and explore its fine cultural heritage. The economic shifts in the world have placed the Kingdom among the fastest growing economies, which helped create opportunities of technical and vocational development in different sectors including oil and gas, renewable energy, technology, and business.

74,000 students from around the world

Saudi universities have hosted over 74,000 students from around the world, and graduated more than 140,000 students from 160 countries in various specialties and academic levels, who benefited from the exceptional educational level and the high-quality outputs in the kingdom.

Dr. Sami Al-Haisouni, director of the scholarships department for non-Saudi students at the Ministry of Education, said the “Study in Saudi Arabia Initiative” reflects the Kingdom’s commitment to providing the best opportunities in the field of education and cultural exchange for international students. The Kingdom has paid great attention to supporting and empowering international students who have chosen it as their destination for education, he added.

Advanced Saudi universities

Saudi Arabia is a major cultural destination and a fine educational hub that has achieved a significant advancement over the past decades as a result of the guided support to develop the education sector, promote its outputs, and transform the conventional education system into a modern one.

The “Study in Saudi Arabia” platform opens the doors of Saudi universities for those willing to join from around the world to invest and develop their skills, benefit from the outstanding capabilities of the Kingdom’s universities, educational facilities, and research centers that serve all kind of scientific purposes.

The development efforts in the Saudi education sector have leveled up some Saudi universities to pioneering ranks. The Times’ World University Rankings 2023 includes 21 Saudi universities compared with 15 last year; seven Saudi universities were among the best worldwide, according to QS Universities Rankings 2021. The Kingdom has also ranked 36th among the best higher education systems in the world.

Public and private Saudi universities showcased their capacities in the exhibition accompanying the forum. They also introduced their educational and academic programs, seats allocated to international students, admission details, and academic information that students need to learn.

In addition to presenting the Ministry of Education’s approach for studying in Saudi Arabia, the forum provides comprehensive information, figures, and statistics about studies in the Kingdom, advantages, universities, colleges, and institutes, as well as the diploma, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in many fields including computer and Islamic law.

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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.

Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year's most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China's eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.

Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.

Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world's land area had seen a rise in "precipitation variability" or wider swings between wet and dry weather.

Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.

"(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods," said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study.

"This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods."

FEWER, BUT MORE INTENSE, STORMS

Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behavior of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful.

"I believe higher water vapor in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena," Sherwood told Reuters.

Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.

While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan's Nagoya University.

"In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favorable condition for tropical cyclone development," she said.

In its "blue paper" on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.

Taiwan also said in its climate change report published in May that climate change was likely to reduce the overall number of typhoons in the region while making each one more intense.

The decrease in the number of typhoons is due to the uneven pattern of ocean warming, with temperatures rising faster in the western Pacific than the east, said Feng Xiangbo, a tropical cyclone research scientist at the University of Reading.

Water vapor capacity in the lower atmosphere is expected to rise by 7% for each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures, with tropical cyclone rainfall in the United States surging by as much as 40% for each single degree rise, he said.