KUALA LUMPUR: The Saudi Arabian government will increase the number of scholarships for Malaysian students to study in the Kingdom next year.
Head of the Cultural Mission at the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia here, Dr Zayed Al Harithi, said there are currently more than 100 Malaysian students studying in the Arab country.
He said the decision to increase the scholarships was based on the overwhelming number of scholarship applications received last year, which was more than 300.
"There were only 100 scholarships available for Malaysian students last year to study at Imam Mohamed bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh.
"We have many more universities in Saudi Arabia and we will give more scholarships to Malaysian students for them to pursue their studies in other universities," he told reporters at the ice-breaking event between Malaysia and Saudi Arabian media here, last night.
He said the scholarship covers studies at diploma, bachelor, master and PhD degrees for all programmes except for medicine.
Benefits for selected students include 1,700 Riyals (RM2,013) and 1,800 Riyals (RM2,131) for Bachelor of Arts and Graduate nominees respectively. They will also receive monthly allowances, free housing and full board, medical insurance and possibility of obtaining visa for the dependents of high achievers.
The event, organised by the Saudi Arabia Cultural Mission, was held in conjunction with Saudi Arabia's King Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud's four-day state visit to Malaysia beginning yesterday.
The visit to Malaysia is King Salman's first since ascending the throne in 2015, and is at the invitation of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V.
Meanwhile, a professor at the Ummul Qura University in Makkah, Dr Saad Ali, said education relations between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia are growing rapidly, with more memorandums of understanding (MoUs) being signed.
He said there are currently more than 1,500 Saudi Arabian students studying in Malaysia, noting the similarity of environments between the two countries as among the reasons attracting them to Malaysia. -- Bernama