International Education and Scholarship Programs in Yemen

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Mustafa Bahran, the former Minister of Electricity in the Republic of Yemen as well as a full professor at Sanaa University. Although our paths should have crossed some years earlier, they hadn’t until Dr. Bahran had written two articles in the Yemeni English weekly, the Yemen Observer, about a special need for Yemen’s development. Dr. Bahran’s articles caught my attention because they addressed a critical need that hasn’t been as frequently expressed in articles or reports that I have seen. This need is to strive to develop Yemeni human resources, specifically through opportunities for bright Yemeni students to study in western countries like the United States. Given our shared interest, I am sharing highlights from our brief discussion.

Dr. Bahran wrote his articles about Yemen’s needs from his own experiences. As he explained to me, he was a young teaching assistant in (and very recent graduate of) the newly-formed department of physics at Sanaa University when he “was selected to take part in the country’s faculty development program.” The faculty development program covered one year of English language training in the U.S. “As soon as I arrived into the U.S., I mixed with American students so that I could improve my language,” he explained to me.

Completing his English language training successfully, Dr. Bahran was subsequently admitted to the University of Oklahoma’s master’s and later doctoral programs in physics. “Our program of study was very weak in Yemen and I felt very challenged the first few weeks at the U.S. university. Fortunately, I was able to ‘repeat’ senior year undergraduate courses at Oklahoma and then undertake my graduate level work. In spite of having to complete English language training and then two semesters of undergraduate coursework in the U.S., I still managed to complete my doctorate in less time than what the average doctoral student in my field requires and I did this with high marks,” he proudly notes.

Dr. Bahran’s American stories, his academic challenges as well as his successes are not unusual for key Yemeni leaders of his generation. Dr. Bahran’s master’s and doctoral degrees were supported by arguably one of the most successful United States Agency for International Development (USAID) programs in the country, a series of educational scholarships for Yemenis to study in U.S. institutions. The USAID scholarships would eventually develop the talent who staffed and continue to staff the faculties of the country’s only university (at the time) and who developed other governmental institutions, both in the capital and in some of the governorates. It is in fact estimated that from the late 1970s until the USAID programs ended in 1996, over 700 Yemenis from around the country received USAID scholarships to complete bachelor’s, or master’s and, in some cases, doctoral programs in the U.S. Today, many of the USAID graduates like Dr. Bahran are prominent academics; others are successful businessmen and still others are high-ranking government officials. The USAID graduates can be found in almost every ministry and our leaders in the private sector, and they have fond memories and great stories of their time in the U.S. to share.

The last set of USAID scholarships were awarded in 1996. With the high cost of higher education in the U.S., there are few opportunities for Yemenis now to receive the coveted American education that a previous generation had greater access to. As I understand it, Dr. Bahran and other graduates of U.S. institutions have a vision to increase the number of Yemeni students in the U.S. It is believed that bright and talented Yemenis can make positive change in their country if they are given the educational tools to do so. I hope that we will be able to resume our conversation about how to support educational opportunities in the U.S. for talented Yemeni students.