WASHINGTON: George Washington University is creating special correspondence courses to enroll about half a dozen college-age members of the Saudi royal family who are wary of travelling to the United States because of security concerns.

Starting in the fall, the five or six students will take standard GWU undergraduate course work adapted to an online format, and possibly some classes taught by university faculty who would travel to Saudi Arabia. The university will also set up an administrator in Riyadh to oversee their studies.

The programme has raised a few eyebrows among GWU faculty because of its narrow tailoring and the extensive effort to educate wealthy members of a controversial regime at a time of tighter visa restrictions on foreign students. But faculty and students leaders said they do not plan to raise objections as long as the university’s academic standards are not compromised. Administrators of several other colleges, when told of the programme, described it as highly unusual.—Dawn/The LAT- WP News Service (c) The Washington Post.