Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative research is to explore the experiences of international students studying in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic. By focusing on a sample of international students, the researcher generated data through semistructured individual interviews with the participants via Zoom due to Covid-19 circumstances. Although the researcher sent more than 100 invitations to international students to participate in this research, either via e-mail or WhatsApp, only 12 male international students studying at different universities in Saudi Arabia agreed to participate. The overall findings of this research revealed three themes that emerged from the interviews: the challenges of international students, their benefits and, support services offered to them in Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 pandemic. The challenges include educational, economic, technical, social, health, and religious challenges. The benefits include educational, economic, technical, social, and religious benefits. The various support services offered to international students include support from universities, community charitable institutions, and individuals. Finally, implications of the findings and directions for future research are provided.

The purpose of this article is to develop a better understanding about how some factors have shaped some cultural dimensions of Saudi Arabia. Concerning the dearth of the literature written in English about this topic, this article will contribute by filling this gap in the literature. This article shows that there five main factors have played a big role in shaping many aspects of Saudi culture. These factors include religious, politics, economic, social and educational factors.

This research aims to describe the challenges of Saudis' re-entry experiences returning to Saudi Arabia after studying abroad. The total number of participants in the research was 21, consisting of 13 male and eight female participants returning from studying in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. With semi-structured individual interviews, the overall findings of this study showed that the returnees experienced some socio-cultural challenges that eventually dissipated over time and few educational challenges related to their work field. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are provided.

The main purpose of this research is to describe the characteristics of the re-entry experiences of Saudis returning to Saudi Arabia after studying abroad. The total number of participants in the study was 21 Saudi returnees, consisting male (n=13, 61.90 per cent) and female participants (n=8, 38.09 per cent)returning from studying in the U.S. U.K. and Australia. By conducting semi-structured individual interviews with the participants, the findings showed six themes that answered the main question of this research. These themes include motivations for returning home, preparing for returning home, feelings on returning home, the nature of relationships with family, the nature of relationships with friends and sense of belonging. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are provided.