JEDDAH, 18 March 2006 — The Ministry of Higher Education’s Aafaq (Horizons) project aims at developing long-term plans for improving the state of the Kingdom’s higher education.
The Dr. Asem Arab Center for Economic and Administrative Studies in Riyadh sponsored an Aafaq workshop last week in Riyadh to address this issue.
Among the topics undergoing analysis by the Center are increasing funding, labor market needs, private higher education and higher education for women.
“We aim at proposing mechanisms and methodologies to synchronize demand and supply of higher education,” said Dr. Arab. “Moreover, this research will provide statistical studies such as the number of students of both sexes who are registered in both governmental and private sectors. And hence it will provide an evaluation of the private higher education institutes that need to be established.”
He added that the studies would be completed by June 25, after which the Center will compile the information into a report.
