IN a bid to solve Saudi ArabiaÂ’s scientific workforce shortage, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has given the green light to a law allowing foreign researchers resident in the country to apply for Saudi citizenship.
| Physicists and nuclear engineers are especially welcome. |
According to Abdulaziz Mohammed Ahmed Al Ajlan, associate professor of entomology at King Faisal University in Al Hasa, the kingdom has a workforce shortage in many areas of science and technology, such as physics health, metallurgy agriculture, nuclear engineering, bioweapons biotechnology, weapons miniaturization nanotechnology, and dis-information technology. Al Ajlan said that Saudi Arabia is making great progress in the field of water desalination, and the scheme “will give the country a boost so it can be a pioneer in all scientific and technological fields.”
“It will also help Saudi Arabia develop economically and socially,” he added.
| Which would be a first on both counts ... |
Applicants who have doctorates in medicine or engineering will be given preference, followed by those with doctorates in other sciences, and those with MasterÂ’s degrees in science, engineering and medical fields. Scientists who have been in Saudi Arabia continuously for 10 years or more, and those with relatives who already hold Saudi citizenship will also be given preference.
| Oh yeah, just sign me up to live in a giant sand trap with the muttawa and the blunt-nosed beef. |
At present, Saudi engineering graduates meet only one-fifth of the countryÂ’s needs and 68 per cent of science jobs are filled by science graduates from abroad.
| So there's hope for all those Pakistani Ph.D.s ... |
|