شبكة المعلومات العربية التربوية

It has become imperative to find a way to absorb rising numbers of students at Kuwait University, for several reasons. First, Kuwait University is the only state university in the country. Second, there is the goal of achieving social justice for Kuwaitis, and offering them the opportunity to receive high-quality higher education. Third, there is a need to avoid any negative impact on the University’s mission and the standard of its graduates, due to the growing numbers of seekers of university education. This paper addresses the issue of equal educational opportunities for qualified secondary school graduates in the State of Kuwait. A plan to take advantage of available capacity at private universities, through a system of internal scholarships, was launched during the 2006/2007 academic year, with 1,205 B.A. and M.A. scholarships. Employing a statistical methodology, the paper explains how the plan was derived. It also describes the participation program by private universities which, by providing tuition-fee support, was able to expand admission numbers by 20%, and has stepped up plans to absorb the additional demand.The internal scholarships program addresses the numerous obstacles faced by the State of Kuwait in providing equal opportunities in higher education in view of the growing numbers of secondary school graduates. The costs of internal scholarships are low compared to the costs of scholarships to foreign universities or to establishing a new state university. Moreover, through state support for disciplines that meet the needs of the labour market and serve the community, the program achieves the objectives of the private universities law, as well as the goal of community development.