JEDDAH, 17 August 2005 — In a significant first, a group of Saudi investors plan to establish a joint stock company with a capital of SR2 billion ($533 million) in order to set up advanced private universities and research centers.
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Awaji, who runs a company specialized in organizing conferences in Riyadh, said the company aims at producing highly qualified graduates, matching with those of international universities.
The project will also cater to the needs of the Kingdom’s over six million expatriate community, as it will provide their children admission to its universities and research centers.
“This will help expatriates have family stability. At present, they have to send their children abroad for higher studies, thousands of miles away from their families,” he pointed out.
The company intends to establish universities in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam to teach subjects including medicine, pharmacy and accountancy, all of which are in great demand.
He emphasized the need for specialized institutions of higher learning to supply qualified hands in the areas of industry, technology and health. Specialized institutes are also required for financial and administrative sciences, insurance, capital market and other important subjects required by the country, he added.
Al-Awaji said the new company would also serve the interests of Saudi women. “At present universities do not offer women courses in scientific specializations required by labor market,” he pointed out.
A consultative committee comprising experts and intellectuals specialized in all scientific subjects will be formed in the first phase, he said.
Experts will later draft the university’s educational system and identify its location. Consultative offices will be selected to conduct necessary studies and an agreement will be signed with an international university. The project’s backers say they are already in talks with a number of US universities to set up affiliated campuses in the Kingdom, a trend already underway in Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
According to Al-Kharashi Consultants, which is helping set up the project, the new firm is expected to start functioning by the end of the year.
The lion’s share of its capital will be met by its founders while the rest will be floated for public subscription by prospective investors or government institutions or research centers.
“In the long run, the ownership of the universities will be transferred to a non-profitable charitable organization,” he said, adding that part of the company’s profits would be set aside for the charity.
The government has already licensed two private universities - Prince Sultan University and Al-Faisal University and 12 private colleges, according to Dr. Mohamed Al-Saleh, secretary-general of the Higher Education Council.
With the opening of new universities in Jizan, Hail and Al-Jouf, the number of state-run universities in the Kingdom would reach 15 including King Saud University for Health Sciences under the National Guard.
Studies are under way to transform 102 existing women’s colleges into women’s universities. King Abdullah has already instructed authorities to merge the six women’s colleges in Riyadh into a single university.
Saleh also said that the Higher Education Ministry had given preliminary licenses to about 60 investors to establish private colleges in various parts of the country. “Licensing procedures for some of these colleges have reached final stages,” he said.
Dr. Abdullah Moopan, an Indian psychiatrist and educationist, welcomed the new company’s plan to admit expatriate students in its universities.
“It’s a dream come true for expatriates,” he said and hoped the firm would charge reasonable fees to help a large number of expatriates make use the facility.