RIYADH: Thousands of Saudis studying overseas are celebrating the Kingdom’s 96th National Day with volunteer-led events that blend national pride, cultural exchange, and community support, transforming campuses and community venues into vibrant showcases of Saudi identity. According to the Saudi Ministry of Education, there were 54,051 Saudi scholarship students studying abroad in 2025, including 13,838 in the US, 13,120 in the UK, and 3,941 in Australia. National Day is celebrated annually on Sept. 23, marking the declaration of the Kingdom’s unification under its present name by founder King Abdulaziz in 1932. While celebrations fill streets across Saudi Arabia, students thousands of kilometers away often find themselves recreating that atmosphere from scratch. “Inside Saudi Arabia, the celebration happens around you,” president of the Saudi Students Association in Melbourne, Abdulmohsin Sades, told Arab News. “Here, if we do not build it, it does not exist. That changes it from a feeling into a responsibility and a duty." A doctoral candidate at Monash University, Sades has led Melbourne’s Saudi National Day celebrations since 2022. He said the occasion brings together more Saudis in the city than any other event during the year. “For many of our students, it is the closest thing to being home,” he said. This year, the association is preparing to welcome more than 1,000 guests to a five-hour family celebration at St. Kilda Town Hall on Sept. 26. 54,051 Saudi scholarship students were studying abroad in 2025. The event is built around this year’s official National Day identity, “Our Pride is in Our Nature,” or “Ezzna Betab’na.” Dedicated cultural areas will explore values including generosity, authenticity and determination. A six-meter wall will invite guests to leave their own messages to the Kingdom, meaning, as Sades put it, that the evening will begin with the official National Day design and end “in the handwriting of the people in the room.” An AI-powered photography experience will offer eight settings inspired by locations across Saudi Arabia, including Diriyah, historic Jeddah and Asir, with guests receiving instant prints. Bilingual competitions and games will also allow Arabic and non-Arabic speakers to participate together. The program will feature a short film produced by student volunteers and a talent segment showcasing students who signed up to perform. A substantial volunteer effort underpins the event. At least 24 students are helping to organize the celebration, with some spending more than 12 hours a day on preparations while balancing their studies and family responsibilities. The team has also arranged to ship more than 100 kg of gifts and cultural items from Saudi Arabia, including products customized with the association’s logo. The enthusiasm is evident. About 600 people registered within two days of the free tickets being released. Rawan Alajmi, the association's vice president, said she had not felt the same emotional depth toward National Day while living in Saudi Arabia. “Now I am involved in creating the event and planning it from scratch, so the experience has become much more meaningful and emotional,” she said. Alajmi has worked on the association’s events since joining it in 2023. “The farther people are from home, the more they recognise the value of their country, including the small things they may not notice while living there,” she said. “You see the differences between Saudi Arabia and the country where you are studying, and you feel more closely connected to your culture and identity.” In Manchester, another student group is expanding its National Day celebrations in both scale and ambition. Sattam Alqahtani, a second-year chemical engineering student at Manchester University who is sponsored by Aramco, has been elected president of the university’s Saudi society. Around 70 students attended last year’s National Day event. This year, the society is expecting between 250 and 350 attendees at a much larger museum-style venue on Sept. 27. The celebration has secured support from Saudi brands, including Al-Bassam and Al-Ajlan, as well as three Kuwaiti companies and a strategic partnership with a Kuwaiti event-management company. Visitors will move through a cultural exhibition featuring items brought from Saudi Arabia. The display is intended to introduce the Kingdom’s history, its ongoing transformation and the ambitions of Vision 2030. Onstage activities will serve as icebreakers, helping students meet one another, while the evening will conclude with a fireworks display. Organizers are also arranging security appropriate for the larger venue and audience. The event will be open to Saudis and also to Gulf students and members of the wider community. Alqahtani said British, Turkish, and American students regularly attend the society’s programs out of curiosity about Saudi culture. The society’s previous Founding Day celebration attracted more than 600 students and family members, with some traveling from Edinburgh, London, and Reading. That reach, Alqahtani said, creates a responsibility to maintain the standard of the society’s events from year to year. The timing is significant as National Day coincides with the opening weeks of the academic year, when first-year students are adjusting to an unfamiliar country. “Many are experiencing homesickness after leaving their families and friends,” Alqahtani said. “We therefore use National Day as an opportunity to welcome them, introduce them to the community, and support them as they begin the experience of studying abroad.” “We do not want the society simply to organize social events,” he said. “We want it to be a platform that supports Saudi students academically, professionally, and socially.” In Lancaster, Joud Albader is bringing her artistic background to lead the city’s Saudi student society. Albader is studying drama, theater, and performance at Lancaster University, with a minor in creative writing. Lancaster’s relatively small and dispersed Saudi population led her to think differently about what a student society could offer. The society’s celebration, scheduled for Oct. 3 to accommodate students facing visa delays, will be structured as an artistic and historical experience. Plans include an open gallery of archival photographs illustrating the history of relations between Saudi Arabia and Britain. Materials obtained with the support of the King Fahd National Library include photographs of the founder, King Abdulaziz, and early Saudi-British encounters. “We want to show that the relationship between the two countries stretches back many years,” Albader said. “It is important for Saudi students to understand their country’s history and its relationship with the foreign country in which they are studying.” The society is also involving British musicians, event organizers, theater practitioners, and filmmakers from the local community. Albader has arranged a fusion Saudi-British music show featuring a British guitarist and a Saudi oud player. She said the event is intended to foster cultural exchange by bringing together the international community and Saudi students. Across the Atlantic, Hasan Radwan, a senior studying business analytics and information systems at Pennsylvania State University, is also looking forward to celebrating. He plans to wear traditional Saudi attire to the Saudi Student Association’s event before heading downtown with friends, also dressed in traditional clothing, to continue the celebrations. For Radwan, National Day abroad feels both nostalgic and inspiring. It recalls celebrations at home while encouraging him to reflect on the support that made his overseas education possible. “That reflection rekindles my inspiration and motivation to make the most of the opportunities my nation has given me.” Whether in Melbourne, Manchester, Lancaster, or Pennsylvania, Saudi students are finding new ways to celebrate their national identity while building bridges with the communities around them. For many, the events are not simply about looking back on the Kingdom’s history, but about reflecting on the role they hope to play in its future. “We are all here for the same purpose: to earn a degree, return home, work, and contribute to society,” Albader said. “In Saudi Arabia, National Day is about the energy of the community, going into the streets and celebrating collectively. Abroad, it becomes an opportunity to reflect on what the country and my identity mean to me personally.”