RIYADH, 3 February 2003 — Higher Education Minister Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari said yesterday that the government will make allocations next year for the three new universities ordered by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard.
The new universities will be established in Qasim, Madinah and Taif by transforming the existing university branches in the cities. There are now eight universities in the country located in Jeddah, Makkah, Riyadh, Dhahran, Madinah, Dammam and Abha.
As many as 450,000 students including girls are enrolled at the Kingdom’s universities which have a total of 72 colleges. The existing universities are not enough to accommodate the growing number of secondary school graduates.
There are 72 girls colleges under the Ministry of Education with more than 190,000 students. The ministry also runs 18 teachers’ colleges accommodating over 30,000 students. A total of 25,000 students are enrolled in the Kingdom’s nine technical colleges.
Dr. Nasir Al-Saleh, acting president of Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah, said the government’s plan to transform the university branches in Taif, Qasim and Madinah will help provide seats to the growing number of secondary school graduates.
He said the Umm Al-Qura University Council proposed opening of 13 new colleges for boys and girls in Taif for students intending to pursue higher studies.
Umm Al-Qura University opened a college of education in Taif 24 years ago.
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.
