A video of a young Emirati man who runs a doughnut shop in Maastricht while studying in the southern Dutch university city has gone viral on social media.
The video was taken by Ali Al Qahtani, a Kuwaiti man who spoke with the shop's owner, Omar Ali, during a visit to the city.
“I was walking in Maastricht centre in Netherlands and went inside a delicious doughnut shop. The owner Omar from the UAE has been working there for three years,” said Mr Al Qahtani in his tweet, written in Arabic.
In the video, Mr Ali welcomed Mr Al Qahtani with a smile and explained he has been running the Royal Donuts shop in Maastricht and plans to return to the Gulf region.
“My name is Omar from Sharjah. I completed three years studying business and language at Maastricht in the Netherlands,” said Mr Ali in the video, speaking in Arabic and standing behind the array of colourful doughnuts.
“Inshallah after a couple of years I will return to GCC, maybe to Kuwait, why not, and work with Dutch [people]."
At the end of the video, Mr Al Qahtani shows the outside of the shop and urges people to support his store.
Several Twitter users posted positive comments and praised Mr Ali for his entrepreneurial spirit.
The video has been watched more than 370,000 times on Twitter.
Royal Donuts was first established in 2018 by Turkish national Enes Şeker in Cologne and now has more than 100 shops in Europe, with some run on a franchise basis.
As The National reported in May, there has been an uptick in school leavers in the Emirates looking to study at English-speaking universities in mainland Europe.
With fees as low as €6,000 (Dh23,600) per year - about half the cost of a British university - the Netherlands is among the most popular destinations, with 115,000 foreign students in 2021/22.
Polish universities - where fees can be as low as €3,000 - are also well regarded and are attracting more students from the Gulf and India.
Going Dutch: UAE pupils look to English-speaking universities in Europe
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Students walk in the Science Park of the University of Amsterdam. The Netherlands has lower tuition fees than the UK, US and Canada but living costs are high and there is an acute shotage of low-cost accommodation in cities such as Amsterdam. EPA -
Baahir Sameesh, who grew up in Dubai, is looking forward to starting an artificial intelligence degree at Vrije University in Amsterdam in September. Photo: Baahir Sameesh -
More students are considering Georgia, a three and a half hour flight from Dubai, for its low living costs and cheap tuition fees. English is widely spoken and several universities teach in English. Photo: flydubai -
Valletta, Malta is offers Mediterranean living in a Unesco World Heritage Site. Malta is home to about 11,000 international students and University of Malta teaches all degrees in English. Away from tourist sites the cost of living is relatively cheap. Photo: Corbis
