Kuwait Finance House (KFH) - Bahrain has launched Sharia-compliant student financing designed to encourage and facilitate entry into higher education by financing tuition fees for undergraduate as well as graduate students.

The finances will be made available to students in Bahrain for undertaking studies at universities accredited by the Education Ministry.

It may also be extended to students undertaking studies at international universities on a case by case basis.

To be eligible, the students should have successfully completed their high school studies with an average of at least 85 per cent or undergraduate degrees with 3.0 GPA.

The student must be over the age of 21 or where this is not the case, the guardian of the student may make an application for Student Financing for the benefit of the applicant.

"As a socially responsible bank, we have designed this unique product to support and encourage students not only to enter higher education but to excel at a national and international level," said KFH-Bahrain managing director and chief executive officer Abdulhakeem Alkhayyat.

"Student financing is a very important initiative of the bank, designed to support Bahrain's 2030 vision."

"We believe that each and every student has the right to higher education, without facing financial obstacles which may prevent the student from maximising their potential," he said.

"In the current economic climate, students, parents and their families deserve every possible assistance to enable entry into university, and to make the university studies more affordable," he said.

"Student financing is in-line with KFH-Bahrain's strategy of supporting greater student participation in higher education by all income groups through the introduction of innovative financing," said executive manager and head of banking group Khalid Rafea.

"The concept for student financing came as a result of in-depth in-house research, market analysis and was tailored to the customers needs and requirements as such the product is structured to offer applicants very competitive profit rates together with flexible repayment options." – TradeArabia News Service