Ministry unifies regulations for foreign students

JEDDAH: The Ministry of Education has issued new regulations for document evaluation of Saudi and non-Saudi students coming from outside the Kingdom during the middle of the school year (after or before the end of the first semester).
The regulations include calculating the results of studies outside the Kingdom as having successfully completed the first semester without looking at grades or outcomes of individual courses so that final results are based on studies undertaken in the second semester.
Students coming to complete the second semester in the Kingdom are required to provide an original document, translated into Arabic by an approved education authority and certified by the Saudi cultural attache in the country from which the student is coming or the Saudi Embassy if there is no attache.
There must also be a document attesting to the student’s having successfully completed the first semester as per education admission regulations and requirements in the Kingdom. If the document is not complete, or if the student is coming from a country where the educational semester system differs from that of the Kingdom, an official document must be provided indicating the student completed at least 10 weeks of study.
The student should have completed in-person schooling, and not have been enrolled in an affiliate program, a professional program, an online program, in training courses, or at a language institute.
According to the General Department of Examinations and Admissions at the Ministry of Education, students who do not meet these conditions will not have their certificates and qualifications approved, and students will be required to undergo and pass exams for first semester subjects.
Students who have had their documents approved, and who have completed the first semester of middle school but only one subject of the second semester will be required to repeat the second semester courses.
Concerning the regulations and procedures for admission of high school students, the ministry confirmed the equivalency of courses and degrees would be approved after completion of all document approval requirements set by the Department of Examination and Admission.
A committee at the Department of Education will review all grades and documents and determine the level at which the incoming student will be placed in order to resume his or her education.