ABSTRACT
Although Saudi Arabia’s educational policy makers may not have been aware of the Anderson formula of efficiency, equity and freedom of choice, they were built into the Saudi educational system at all levels. Saudi Arabia’s abundant financial resources have enabled the country to pursue such a policy with ease and effect. For example, the efficiency element sometimes necessitates the hiring of educational personnel from distant countries, eg the United States of America, and, despite the heavy financial requirements involved in such a case, the Saudi policy makers have encouraged it, as it is to the country’s ultimate benefit, contributing to the fulfilment of the Kingdom’s educational goals. The equity element is also achieved by having a free educational system open to all citizens at all levels. Yet at certain levels, such as universities, in order to maintain a high standard, a student must possess specified academic qualifications for admission. This policy is sound, for it ensures the university remains a serious institution of higher learning, rather than allowing it to be used as a boarding house for uninterested students. In Egypt during the 1960s, when universities began to admit students according to an equity criterion based on political motivations (the ideology of socialism), an enormous surplus in university graduates resulted. University graduates often waited two years after graduation only to be appointed to government positions which rarely did justice to their educational qualifications. This situation has not changed much despite, the introduction of rigid entrance requirements to Egyptian universities. Surpluses of unwanted and unemployed university graduates still represent a major problem facing Egypt today. This result undermines the efforts of Egyptian educational policy makers who find it extremely difficult, even dangerous, to alter the status quo.
