By Abdul Karim Al-Theyabi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

Taif — The Ministry of Education has justified the lack of Saudi academics in government universities by announcing statistics on the number of scholarship students sent abroad to obtain postgraduate degrees.

Spokesman of the ministry Mubarak Al-Ossaimi said in a tweet that 12,542 students are studying on scholarship abroad.

Responding to recently published comments about the percentage of Saudi academics in government universities, he said the ministry is pleased to publish statistics on the number of Saudi scholarship students studying in prestigious universities abroad.

However, Al-Ossami did not mention the reasons why unemployed Saudi academics holding doctorate and master’s degrees have not been employed in government universities.

Several universities were criticized after an altercation between the president of Saqra University and a student who was asking why there were no Saudi academics in the university.

Okaz published a report about Saudi academics who confronted the president of Saqra University asking why their job applications were rejected.