JEDDAH, 5 February 2007 — Saudi universities will be able to absorb all secondary school graduates in three years when the newly established 11 universities will have full-fledged campuses and faculties, Higher Education Minister Khaled Al-Anqari said. Addressing a meeting of the Shoura Council in Riyadh, he said all colleges at the new universities focus on applied sciences and courses required by the job market. The number of students admitted to universities increased by 62 percent from 68,000 in 2003 to 110,000 last year.
“We have established new university colleges in 38 cities where nearly 400,000 boys and girls are studying,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted Anqari as saying. The total number of government universities in the Kingdom has reached 19 from seven three years ago.
He said Saudi Arabia has made tremendous progress in higher education in recent years as there are now 16 medical colleges, seven dental colleges, nine colleges of pharmacology, 13 applied medical science colleges, four nursing colleges, 20 engineering colleges, 14 colleges for computer science, 21 science colleges and 12 university hospitals.
“All the 110 new university colleges approved by the Higher Education Council offer courses in medicine, dentistry, pharmacology, applied medical sciences, nursing, engineering and administrative science,” he said while answering questions from Shoura members.
He said more than 80 percent of students who were granted admission during the 2006-2007 academic year specialize in subjects required in the job market. He also spoke about the ministry’s efforts to improve the quality of education. He said there are three private universities with 17 colleges.
Anqari said budget allocation for higher education increased from SR20 billion in 2004 to SR56 billion in 2007. The government has allocated SR8 billion from budget surpluses of the past two years for new colleges and universities.
