Impacts of Studying Abroad on the Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Sustainable Development: A Case Study of the Scholarship Pro-gram in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study aims to examine the relationship between studying abroad and knowledge and attitudes towards sustainable development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The hypothesis of this research is that studying abroad on a scholarship would result in a deeper knowledge about sustainability and positive attitudes towards it. In order to investigate the differences in the knowledge and attitudes towards sustaina- bility of Saudi students, this researcher used the scholarship program system and King Saud University to facilitate and ease the research. Surveys were sent to all students both in the country and out. These surveys contained questions intended to measure the differences in the knowledge that the students had acquired. Both qualitative and quanti- tative questions were put to the students. After collecting the data, a software pack- age called SPSS was used for analysis of the data. Finally, the results were interpreted and conclusions drawn. This study had a sample size of 45 respondents, 29 of which are studying in the country, and 27 of which were on scholarship studying abroad. The results reveal that students studying abroad tend to acquire more detailed infor- mation about sustainable development.