The Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) has announced that, with effect from 1 June 2015, it will no longer consider students’ applications (for new account file opening, applying for a scholarship, changing institution or course…etc) which are based on offers of admissions obtained through educational agents. About six months ago, in accordance with instructions from Saudi Ministry of Education, SACM ceased attesting offers of admissions obtained through educational agents for scholarship candidates sponsored by Saudi government institutions and organizations.
SACM has established a page on its website titled Admission & Communication with Educational Institutions explaining advantages of SACM’s decision which will help distribute sponsored students across educational providers, rather than clustering them in a few institutions. Another significant advantage of the decision of “no-agent environment” is to halt malpractices and unethical behaviour of some of the agents and their representatives. The decision also intends to strengthen the relationship between SACM and Australian education providers and reduce the cost of tuition fees SACM pays every year.
SACM is about to launch a campaign aiming at educating students on admission procedures adopted by Australian educational institutions. SACM will translate some samples of application forms into Arabic and explain courses and choices offered by such institutions.
SACM recently established internal Admission & Academic Attestation Unit which provides, inter alia, guidance and assistance and answers to students’ queries.