Worldly Opportunity
Saudi students start academic journey at UM
Wrapped in a colorful scarf and an arctic-worthy jacket, Ali Alhashim said he’s ready to embrace Montana.
“I’m excited to be among mountains and snow,” Alhashim said while touring The University of Montana last week.
The 19-year-old pre-pharmacy student from Saudi Arabia is one of 5,000 of his countrymen who have been given a free education in the western world, and he is one of 41 students ready to begin an academic journey at UM.
In a diplomatic move of largess, the oil-rich Saudi Arabia government ruled by King Abdullah and his family is spending $4.9 billion on a scholarship program to give college-age Saudi students university educations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
The arrival of 41 Saudis marks an unparalleled opportunity for UM students to learn more about the people and culture of the Muslim country. But because the Saudi government is paying full tuition for each student and paying extra costs associated with intensive English studies programming, the Saudi students also represent a significant financial boon for UM, said UM President George Dennison.
The majority of the students, most of whom are men ages 18-25, will be at UM for five to six years, and will spend much of their first year in Missoula studying English as a second language, said Mehrdad Kia, director of UM’s Office of International Programs. The students will join the greater UM student body and begin degree course work as their English skills improve and become solid enough to endure UM’s mainstream, core academic programs.
Many of the Saudi students are interested in studying computer sciences and pharmacy, Kia said. A handful of the students are interested in the engineering and mining curriculums at Montana Tech and will eventually transfer to the Butte campus.
For the past several years UM has worked to attract international students from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, but post September 11, 2001, the United States severely restricted the number of visas for international students, particularly visa requests from Saudi Arabia students, Kia said.
In the past year and a half, communication has improved between Saudi and American leaders, Kia said, with both recognizing the benefits that come with a better understanding of each country’s cultures.
Because of UM’s past overtures to attract Saudi students, and because UM has been successful over the years educating Saudi students who privately enrolled at UM, as well as students from Pakistan and from Arabic-speaking countries, UM received over 250 applications from students in the new Saudi scholarship program.
“For a number of years UM has been developing programs that focus on the Islamic world,” said Gerald Fetz, dean of UM’s College of Arts and Sciences.
“Mehrdad Kia is a key impetus for that and UM has made outstanding progress to generate a lot of interest in that part of the world and attract faculty expertise on a whole range of international and cultural disciplines,” Fetz said. “That’s why we are on the map with the (U.S.) state department, and with embassies and governments in a variety of countries from that region.”
As part of UM’s Central & Southwest Asian Studies Program, languages such as Arabic and Farsi are being taught at UM’s Missoula campus, and such programs are a welcoming sign for international students from those regions, Fetz said. Aside from the Saudi students, this academic year the UM program has helped enroll six students from Kazakhstan, seven students from Tajikistan and six students from Azerbaijan.
It wasn’t by chance that UM was chosen to be a recipient of the Saudi scholars, Fetz said.
“This didn’t come out of thin air,” he said. “The Saudis wanted to place their students here because of our background, because we have shown an interest in that part of the world, and because they felt comfortable placing students here.”
As the Saudi applications began arriving late last spring, a campus task force was pulled together to help address the needs of the students, Fetz said. While UM is no stranger to hosting international students, the campus has never seen a flood of 40-some students from one country who are expected to stay at UM for several years.
“We wanted to be able to prepare the campus and the people who will most likely have initial contact with the Saudi students so that this will be a positive experience for everybody,” Fetz said.
“We will try to be sensitive and accommodating so that the students’ adjustment period goes smoothly,” Fetz said. “And we expect the students to come and make adjustments.”
With such a large number of Saudis on campus, the students will have a tendency to stick together, Fetz said. But he’s heartened that most of the Saudis want an American student as a roommate.
“I think we will all learn from this experience,” Fetz said. “It will go a long ways towards helping those on campus and in the community learn about a part of the world most of us are fairly ignorant about.”
“This is an honor for us to be able to welcome this many international students at once.”
Alhashim said his American experience has been good so far. “I’m a little nervous being here—I miss my family,” he said. “But the people here are really friendly and helpful.”
