RIYADH, 2 February 2003 — Saudi Arabia yesterday announced plans to establish three new universities in Qasim, Madinah and Taif by transforming the existing university branches in the cities. The announcement came from Higher Education Minister Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari.
Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, instructed the Higher Education Council to conduct a study on the project, the Saudi Press Agency reported quoting the minister.
The plan is to transform the branches of King Saud University in Qasim, King Abdul Aziz University in Madinah and Umm Al-Qura University in Taif into three full-fledged universities.
There are now eight universities in the country located in Jeddah, Makkah, Riyadh, Dhahran, Madinah, Dammam and Abha.
The Crown Prince gave the instructions while attending a ceremony at King Saud University in Riyadh. He dedicated several academic and health projects worth SR3 billion at the university, the largest in the country with more than 55,000 students.
Al-Anqari said the Crown Prince also instructed a panel comprising representatives of the Ministries of Higher Education, the Civil Service and Finance to report on the situation of university teachers.
In an impromptu speech, Prince Abdullah urged Saudi students and youth to show restraint and patience in these difficult times and keep away from provocative statements. “You will be held accountable for them,” he said.
“I ask the Saudi people, young and old, to shoulder their religious and national responsibility at this time. Not all that is known can be said,” he told the gathering.
In his address, Anqari highlighted the government’s efforts in providing higher education to more secondary school graduates by opening 23 new colleges including three medical and dental colleges, five health colleges and 11 science colleges.
He said higher authorities had approved the opening of a medical college in Taif, a nursing college in Dammam and an engineering college in Qasim.
Six new community colleges will be opened in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Baha, Najran and Alkharj this year.
“We have sent more than 6,000 students abroad for higher studies, especially in medical science and technology,” the minister said.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Faisal, President of the university, said the new academic projects would help accommodate more than 12,000 male students and 25,000 female students.
The new girls’ campus in Diraeyya will house colleges of arts, education, administrative science, linguistics, medicine, dentistry, applied sciences, pharmacology, computer science, agriculture and home science.
