“Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah endorsed the recommendations of the Council of Higher Education to create new faculties at the Islamic university in Madinah,” Minister of Higher Education Khaled Al-Anqari told the Saudi Press Agency on Thursday.

“The Council of Higher Education’s recommendations, which were approved by the king, included the restructuring of some departments and colleges at the King Abdulaziz University branch in Rabigh.”

The decision to split Hail University’s College of Medicine and Applied Medical Sciences into separate colleges of medicine and applied medical sciences is another recommendation approved by the king.

King Abdullah also ordered the establishment of a department for emergency medicine at Dammam University, a department of legal systems at the College of Shariah and Islamic studies in Qassim University, an inpatient nutrition department at the College of Applied Medical Sciences in Taibah University and a Shariah department at the College of Law in Al-Jouf University, according to minister of higher education.