Education in the Gulf - The contradictions of study abroad

By The Economist online | EXETER. ON A bright summer day in Exeter, a university town in the south-west of England, an array of Gulf academics mingle to discuss the changes afoot in their countries, keeping an eye out for government officials, pro-royal lobbyists, and a handful of security-service people from Abu Dhabi, the richest of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Gulf youngsters wishing to study the politics and histories of their countries often go abroad to do so, since those subjects are generally too sensitive for their universities back home. Many are on government scholarships. Saudi Arabia, for instance, sends 130,000 students abroad each year. Half go to America, tens of thousands come to Britain and a small but growing pool—still in the hundreds rather than thousands—head to China.