Medicine in Saudi Arabia for international students 2026/27: what is free, what is paid, and what it costs

79 medical and health programs on Study in Saudi · 10 tuition-free · 69 paid, bachelor's from 17,250 SAR to 101,208 SAR a year · medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing · prices by specialty, duration, master's degrees

الطب في السعودية

"I want to study medicine in Saudi Arabia on a scholarship" is the most common request we get. We exported every program of the 2026/27 intake from the official Study in Saudi portal and picked out everything in medicine and health that is open to international applicants: 79 programs — 64 bachelor's and diplomas, 15 master's and PhD. The honest, short answer: 10 programs are tuition-free, and not one of them is clinical. Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing are paid only in this intake. Below — every program, prices by specialty and by university, program duration, whole-degree cost, and what to do about it.

The essentials: medicine in Saudi Arabia for international students

• Medicine (MBBS), dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, physiotherapy, laboratory sciences, anesthesia, radiology — paid only. None of these is offered on a full or partial scholarship to international students in the 2026/27 intake.
• Free — only health-adjacent tracks: microbiology, medical physics, food sciences and nutrition, veterinary medicine, and master's degrees in biomedical engineering and health services management.
• Umm al-Qura, the Islamic University of Madinah and Imam University open no clinical medicine to internationals; Qassim offers veterinary medicine and food science.
• Public medicine exists, but it is paid: King Saud University lists 16 programs at 68,387 SAR–78,752 SAR a year.
• The most affordable prices are at private colleges: nursing from 30,000 SAR (Almaarefa University), medicine from 46,000 SAR (Almaarefa University), dentistry from 38,004 SAR (Buraydah Private Colleges (BPC)) a year.
• Duration: medicine and dentistry take 7 yrs including internship, pharmacy 5–6 yrs, nursing 4–5 yrs. A whole medical degree starts at 322,000 SAR (≈ $85,900) in tuition alone.
• Language: every clinical program is taught in English; the free microbiology and medical physics at Umm al-Qura are Arabic-only.

Free programs: medicine and health on a scholarship (10)

Everything the portal opens to internationals in medicine and health without tuition. A full scholarship covers tuition, a monthly stipend, flights, housing and medical care; a partial one covers tuition, stipend and flights — the exact set is in brackets. Under each program name: language of instruction and duration.

Mind the conditions: King Saud University requires SAT 1010+, King Abdulaziz master's and PhD programs require IELTS. Umm al-Qura and Qassim require no tests, but their free programs are taught in Arabic.

How much medicine costs in Saudi Arabia: prices by specialty

Paid bachelor's programs (53) grouped by specialty. Price is per academic year after the portal's discount; "whole degree" is the most affordable option multiplied by the program duration from the portal. Housing, flights and insurance are extra.

Paid programs by university: medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing (69)

Prices are tuition after the portal's discount, per academic year, excluding housing and flights (≈ 3.75 SAR per US dollar). At Buraydah Private Colleges, Sulaiman Al-Rajhi and Mustaqbal the portal labels programs "partial scholarship" — that is a discount, not a scholarship in the usual sense.

* "Respiratory Therapy Sciences" (Inaya Medical Colleges) is listed on the portal at 322,574 SAR — out of line with the college's other prices and most likely a data error; it is excluded from the ranges above. Confirm with admissions.

Full program lists per institution — with duration and language of instruction:

Master's and PhD programs in medicine (15)

For those who already hold a bachelor's degree. 4 programs are free — all at King Abdulaziz University (Jeddah), all requiring IELTS; 11 are paid. Clinical master's degrees — dental specialties, clinical pharmacy, critical care nursing — are offered only by Batterjee Medical College.

What this means in practice

1. Zero budget. Medicine as such is not available this intake. The real free entries next to medicine are microbiology and medical physics at Umm al-Qura (Makkah, no tests, taught in Arabic), microbiology and food sciences at King Saud University (SAT required), veterinary medicine at Qassim for men and food science for women. Plus master's degrees in Jeddah for those who already hold a bachelor's and IELTS.
2. With a budget. The most affordable MBBS is Almaarefa University — 46,000 SAR (≈ $12,300), 322,000 SAR (≈ $85,900) over 7 yrs for the whole degree. Dentistry from Buraydah Private Colleges (BPC) — 38,004 SAR (≈ $10,100). Nursing from Almaarefa University — 30,000 SAR (≈ $8,000). Medicine in Madinah (Al-Rayan National Colleges) — 92,000 SAR a year.
3. One application — 25 programs. Paid medicine and free adjacent tracks can go into one application: for example, medicine at Riyadh Elm + microbiology at Umm al-Qura + food science at Qassim. If the paid offer turns out to be beyond budget, the free fallback is already in hand.
4. Watch for updates. The portal adds programs throughout the window — 8 new ones appeared on 18 September. No scholarship medicine has opened this year so far — if it does, we will update this article and post on Telegram.

The full list of scholarship programs in this intake is in "Saudi Arabia scholarships 2026/27: all free-tuition programs"; documents and filing in the Study in Saudi guide. University profiles are in the university catalog.

Why apply with Yusr

Because we treat every applicant individually. Before filing, we send you the full list of universities and programs we intend to apply to, wait for your approval — and only then submit. No surprises in the application: you see and confirm every one of the 25 programs.

FAQ: medicine in Saudi Arabia for international students