Sources: Kenneth M. Holland, 785-532-5990, kholland@k-state.edu
Kathleen Witcher, 785-532-5990, kwitcher@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Andy Badeker, 785-532-6415, abadeker@k-state.edu
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
SAUDI STUDENTS SAMPLE SUMMER AT K-STATE
MANHATTAN -- Ahmed Albeltagi knew what to expect from Manhattan: skyscrapers, crowded sidewalks and traffic to rival that in his hometown of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he attends Prince Sultan University.
But instead of New York , Albeltagi found himself in Manhattan, Kan. (Prince Sultan chooses its students' summer destinations.) Halfway through a two-week "summer camp" at Kansas State University, the accounting major hasn't been disappointed.
The marketing class he audited was welcoming, "the coffee is OK," and even with the humidity, 90 degrees in Kansas is kinder than the 120 degrees of a typical Riyadh June, he said. "It's fantastic here."
Albeltagi and 11 other students from Prince Sultan are getting to know K-State as a consequence of a memorandum of understanding the two universities signed in November 2006. The camp provides two hours of credit in English instruction, tips on research and class presentations, and exposure to how students and teachers interact.
"This is the first such summer camp for Saudi undergraduates at an American university," said Kenneth M. Holland, associate provost for international programs. To mark the occasion, Jon Wefald, K-State's president, played host at a recent lunch for the students, their chaperones and several K-State faculty members and administrators.
The agreement also allows Saudi students to transfer to K-State for their final two years of study, Holland said. Albetalgi will graduate from Prince Sultan this fall, but he said he's interested in pursuing an MBA at K-State.
Although the office of international programs has kept the visitors busy with activities such as a tour of the Konza Prairie, K-State's Saudi student club is doing its part to discourage homesickness too, said club president Mohammad Alanazi, a doctoral student in computer science. Over the weekend they planned a soccer game at the rec center and a cookout in a local park.
Holland hopes all this will lead to two other "firsts."
"We want to receive the first group of Saudi female undergraduate students ever to participate in a summer camp at an American university," he said. "And we want to take the first group of American students to have a similar experience at Prince Sultan University."
Prince Sultan is the only Saudi university to offer its students such a summer program at no additional cost, according to Daniel Guillaume, the school's director of international relations.
"For the moment, students do not choose which university they visit," Guillaume said, which accounts for Albeltagi's suspense during the school's interview process. "They could, but it would be entirely at their expense."
The study-abroad program also will be paid for by Prince Sultan, Guillaume said, but that remains in the planning stages, as does its intent to host Americans. The university, founded in 1999, is still building its campus and curriculum. It offers bachelor's degrees in computer science and business administration.
"We don't have the logistics at the moment to accommodate a large number of (foreign) students," Guillaume said, "but I believe it would be feasible to welcome a couple of them.
"The real problem is more about what they are going to do at PSU. We would first need to assess the academic compatibility of the selected courses."
He accompanied the all-male group as one of two chaperones, and he's frank about "the constraints" of Saudi society. Although 1,100 of Prince Sultan University's 2,000 students are women, they do not share classrooms or coursework with the men. Women also are not allowed to travel unaccompanied.
He does think something might be worked out if female Saudi students could be housed with families, rather than in the campus dormitories where this group has been staying.
"Most Saudi youth, male and female, live with their parents for quite a long time," Guillaume said, "until they're established in their professions and ready to start a family of their own." The notion of residence hall life or his own experience of leaving his home in France as soon as he turned 18 are foreign to Saudi culture.
"But this two-week program is something we're trying to do every year," Guillaume said. "And welcoming foreign students to PSU is part of my objective for the university."
The group's last day on campus is July 1.