College Preparatory Center
Saudi Aramco's College Preparatory Centre (CPC) is the first stage of a highly selective program (established in 1985) run by the Saudi national oil company "Saudi Aramco". The actual program is called "College Degree Program for Non Employees" or (CDPNE). Basically, the program is for the company to sponsor a student for his university studies under the condition that he will have to work for them at least as long as he was under the sponsorship, otherwise he needs to pay all the expenses the company spent on him.
The CDPNE begins with the CPC, an extensive 9-month program of study which takes place next to the Industrial Training Centre (ITC) in Dhahran. The program curriculum is mainly English and science, some IT courses are offered, all taught in English. Note that the admitted students will be divided into different levels according to how well they did in the application test. Each level will have a slightly different program focused on their abilities. After which students who pass the strict graduation qualifications, including multiple TOEFL, SAT, IELTS, science and for some Advanced Placement (AP) tests, will move on to universities to finish their education. [[Image:DSC03848.JPG|thumb|CPC Campus - Building D]
Last year (2004-2005), the admission rate was 1.20%, 148 admitted from a pool of 12,300 qualified applicants. Admitted students receive a monthly salary of SR2500 ($666) for their attendance mostly. Each student is assigned in a Saudi ARAMCO department which is related to his concentration of study.
All students - after passing the first year in CPC - will have a full scholarship, mostly to universities in the United States and United Kingdom, all expenses covered. Moreover, each scholar, after coming back and working for a couple of years, will have the opportunity to continue graduate studies up to the PhD degree, while receiving a salary of full time employees.
