Each year tens of thousands of secondary school graduates find themselves with a problem. Because of limited space in our universities, the students are unable to continue their education. Government universities demand high grades and so admit only a limited number of students. Of 200,000 secondary school graduates, only about 70,000 are able to continue their education — which leaves a large number ineligible to study in the Kingdom. Faced with this, parents are forced to send their children to colleges and universities in both Arab and Western countries.
In a state such as New York in the United States, there are 594 universities, which means in theory there is a university seat for every student. The other problem we have, apart from limited places, is that the number of students specializing in humanities account for more than 75 percent of university students, leaving only 25 percent who do scientific studies. And this is at a time when genuine development and progress require large numbers of science graduates. We have had a good experiment with private schools, whether elementary, intermediate or secondary, and we should benefit from it.
The large numbers of private schools have greatly reduced pressure on public schools. Why shouldn’t we do something similar with private colleges and universities? I think it would be appropriate if this project was given to investors willing to work on a shareholder basis so that large amounts could be raised and also to ensure that we have well-equipped colleges following modern educational techniques.
The role of the Ministry of Higher Education should be supervisory and confined to general rules and regulations without interfering in the institution’s internal affairs. The facts indicate that the ministry has not sought to develop public universities or worked to meet the real needs of the country’s secondary school graduates.
