Message from Attaché
Dr. Mohammed Aleissa
Cultural Attaché
It has been 70 years since the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s policy for education started to take shape. In that short period of time, the Kingdom has focused on developing its human-resource infrastructure with the most advanced guidelines of education, management and technology.
The United States of America has always been the focus of attention for Saudi leaders especially with regards to education and international scholarship programs. The first initiatives started with the founding leader of Saudi Arabia King Abdulaziz and have continued through this day to King Abdullah, Crown Prince Sultan and Second Deputy Prince Naif.
From the beginning, the United States was a major resource of international education, and the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) was always the bridge between the different Saudi agencies funding scholarship students and the American universities and institutions they were sponsored to study in.
The role of SACM has varied over the years ranging from primary focus on academic supervision of scholarship students to a later shift towards a more cultural role as the need for cultural outreach and understanding became necessary.
In fact, the name “cultural mission” itself denotes the primary role of this institution. Academic supervision should not be the only role played by the mission; rather the focus should be on creating a true representation of Saudi Arabia both culturally and academically.
Because our scholarship students are the best exemplars of Saudi cultural, SACM has started utilizing its students to best portray Saudi culture via Saudi student clubs at different universities, open Saudi house days, conferences, and community volunteer work.
The United States of America has around 19,000 Saudi students- a third of Saudi scholarship students worldwide- and this reflects the major role played by the Saudi cultural mission in the US. In fact, as such, SACM is applying the ambitious political vision of the country, especially with regards to scholarship programs to the US.
In addition, SACM is very aware of its responsibility towards its students as seekers of knowledge as well as ambassadors of their country, constantly working to represent their country in the best possible way, building bridges of understanding between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America.
