International ranking of universities where Saudis have scholarships: reality and expectations

Abstract

The current study aims to explore education quality level of the universities that Saudi students join according to universities' position in shanghai ranking and QS in the year 2010. It also aims to discuss the difficulties those students face in joining those universities. The researcher used the descriptive approach with its two documentary and qualitative kinds and depended on the quantitative data – derived from the database of the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education – of four countries : USA, Canada, UK and Australia. She also relied on the databases of international classifications of global universities according to Shanghai ranking and QS. She also took use of the qualitative data collected through interviews with 108 of those responsible for scholarship programs, of students returning back to the kingdom after they had completed their study abroad and of Saudi students who were still studying there. The interviews revolved around the difficulties Saudi students face when joining those universities of top positions on Shanghai ranking and QS. The interviews also tackled the mechanisms that must be applied to alleviate these difficulties. The most important finding of this study is that there is a reflexive relationship between Saudi students' registration in these universities and the position of these universities in Shanghai ranking and QS in each of the four separate or collective countries.