Culture Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Culture Studies - Essay Example More so when they start exploring the sceneries and the attractive spots that can take their breath away. Any traveller would appreciate and enjoy the British culture and lifestyle. Each of the four countries in UK is independent from each other and has its own flag. Citizens from each country have their own accents. The English language spoken in UK is mixed with other foreign languages. This is due to the fact that foreigners have immigrated and settled in UK centuries ago. They travelled to UK, studied, worked and lived there. Some of the languages found in the UK English are Spanish, Arabic, Italian, German and French. At present, the international travellers and foreigners in the United Kingdom are mostly from India, China, other European countries, Somalia and Middle East nations such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and United Arab Emirates. These foreigners enjoyed experiencing and living the lifestyle and culture of Britain which in no time has become engrained in their own feelings an d attitudes as well. This paper is tasked to show the impact to these foreigners, particularly the students from Saudi Arabia, of several factors and culture in UK. The United Kingdom has always been a vanguard when it comes to youth culture even during the Rolling Stones and Beatles era of 1960s (BBC News, 2010). Today, it remains a favourite when it comes to young foreigners looking to get further education like those from Saudi Arabia. There are more than 13,500 international students coming from the Middle East who took their courses for higher education from one of the four countries in the United Kingdom (British Council, 2009), i.e., England, Scotland, Northern Island and Wales. The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) showed in their 2008 to 2009 records that there are even more, with the five foremost Middle East countries having the highest number of enrolled students in higher education courses in UK, namely, Saudi Arabia with 5,203 students, Iran with 2,849 students , United Arab Emirates with 2,696 students, Turkey with 2,683 students and Kuwait with 1,546 students. HESA further showed that I the same school year, more than 22 thousand students from the GCC region studies in UK with 9,742 of them taking undergraduate courses and 12,266 postgraduate programmes (HESA, 2009). Of the huge number of international students in UK, 14,000 from Saudi Arabia have joined the highly regarded system of education it is famous for (Al Homiady & Al Zayani, 2009). This does not come as a surprise since there has been a strong relationship fostered between UK and Saudi Arabia not only in terms of education but even with their sports, politics and business ties. Yearly, more and more Saudi students travel to UK to gain their higher education from the premier universities found in UK’s four countries. In fact, Saudi nationals travel to the United Kingdom more than any other country in Europe. Conversely, while Saudis visit, study and live in UK, numerous B ritish people have in turn chosen Saudi Arabia to work in or even live in permanently. They are quite confident of the Saudi government providing them a safety system that will ensure their security and well-being. There is also a bountiful offering of a wide selection of extra-curricular activities offered in the colleges they enter. To top it all off, they will be experiencing in their stay the