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Thousands of Yemeni college students will benefit from the generosity of Saudi Arabia, which is providing $46 million in financial aid for Yemenis pursuing higher education abroad.
The Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen agreed to pay over $2 million in tuition for 796 students during 2020 and 2021. Another $11 million was allocated to cover tuition and fees for 6,136 students during the 2020 academic year.
The scholarship program was enshrined in an agreement signed in June 2021 by Yemen’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Al-Wasabi, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Waed Bathib and Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Al-Jaber. Al-Wasabi noted that the agreement will alleviate financial hardships of thousands of students, many of whom enrolled abroad during the country’s destructive civil war.
His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz created the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen in 2018 to improve quality of life for Yemenis.
In addition to the scholarships, the program is also supplying the Yemeni government with $400 million worth of petroleum derivatives to fuel more than 80 electric power plants.
Other prominent Saudi-financed projects include the King Salman Medical and Educational City in Al-Mahra, renovations to Aden International Airport and road construction in Marib. The three projects combined were valued at more than $80 million.