A member of parliament has said that 3.28 billion Libyan dinars [$2.6 billion] of new money is planned for the overseas education of 41,000 students.
Abdulmonem Alyaser [Al Yaser], GNC member for Khoms and member of the National Security Committee, told Libya Herald that of these, 31,000 would be pre-graduate language students doing a one year English-language course, while the remaining 10,000 would be vocational-studies students.
There are currently 2,500 Libyan students abroad, covered by the current budget of LD 200 million, in addition to about 10,000 students who have been studying abroad since before the Revolution on an existing budget cost of LD 800 million. The total budget for these 12,500 students is LD 1 billion.
While Alyaser feels that, since having a high enough TOFEL or IELTS score is central to being accepted at a good university, there should be a concentration on raising the English-language standard of students.
Students should be sent abroad to study English for one year only, and obtaining a high enough TOFEL or IELTS score within a year should be the prerequisite for moving on to university education abroad. Failing that, students should return to Libya where they would be given help in finding work in the private sector.
According to the report from Libya Herald, some argue that LD 3.28 billion would provide more long-term benefit to Libya if it was spend on improving schools, colleges and institutes within Libya.
(Source: Libya Herald)
