JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia requires 10 more universities for applied science and technology to meet growing demand, said Higher Education Minister Khaled Al-Anqari yesterday. He was talking with a group of academics at the residence of Zuhair Al-Sibae.
“Jeddah alone requires two more universities because its King Abdul Aziz University is crowded with 100,000 students,” he said.
He emphasized the need for universities of technology. “In most countries there are general as well as technological universities. The latter attracts a lot of students. But we only have general universities,” the minister said.
“The basic condition for establishing new universities is that they should be for applied science and technology,” he explained. He said private universities could play a bigger role in absorbing students who have gone abroad for higher studies by offering attractive courses and quality education.
He said the government had sent nearly 70,000 students for higher studies in reputed foreign universities, especially in the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia and India.
“About 10 percent of these scholarship students have failed to complete their studies,” he pointed out.
Al-Anqari said the ministry was considering labor market requirements while approving university and college programs during the past 10 years. “All academic programs of modern universities in Hail, Jazan, Najran and Baha are 100 percent job-oriented,” he said.
He added that Saudi universities would focus on quality and skills in the coming years. “We’ll also focus on scientific studies with the financial support of public and private sectors,” he said and called for extending the period of study at technical colleges from two to four years.
Meanwhile, Al-Anqari yesterday signed three contracts worth more than SR1.5 billion to carry out university projects: Housing for Imam Mohammed bin Saud University staff (SR669 million), housing for King Faisal University staff (SR675 million) and university college complex in Al-Kharj (SR189 million).
