VIRGINIA BEACH, VA - April 24, 2008 - The Educational Policy Institute is in the final stages of an evaluation contract the non-profit AMIDEAST organization to evaluate the King Faisal Foundation's University Preparatory Program in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. EPI's President, Dr. Watson Scott Swail (see below meeting with UPP Student Council representatives in Riyadh) and Vice President Alex Usher, conducted an eight-day site visit to Riyadh at the start of April and are now preparing the results of their review.

The UPP is a new program initiated in September 2007 for Saudi and other students to prepare for the academic rigor of the new Al Faisal University in Riyadh. Al Faisal University is a new private four-year undergraduate institution in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia designed around the US-style of university. It is the hope of the King Faisal Foundation to use the Kingdom's wealth to help prepare Saudi's for the competitive global economy through high-level education at home.

Findings and recommendations from EPI will be used to improve the program so that it can deliver students to Al Faisal University and other Saudi universities that are well prepared for rigorous academic work.

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The Educational Policy Institute is a non-profit research center focused in issues of educational opportunity, especially for our most needy populations. Based in Virginia Beach with offices in Toronto and Melbourne, EPI conducts program evaluation, policy analysis, and conducts professional development opportunities for educational professionals throughout the education continuum. Visit the EPI website at www.educationalpolicy.org.