Saudi universities have completed preparations to enroll tens of thousands of secondary school graduates in the new academic year, which will start on Sept. 1.

There will be 42,000 new seats more at some 25 government universities compared to last year, said Muhammad Al-Haizan, spokesman of the Ministry of Higher Education. The universities have a total capacity to accommodate 348,369 students.

He attributed the huge increase in the number of seats for new admission to the ministry ‘s timely coordination with universities across the Kingdom. “Both the ministry and the universities are keen to give admission to as many students as possible in various specialties. This is line with the policy of the government to pump more money into the human resources sector. This will contribute to accelerating the remarkable growth and development in the Kingdom,” he said.

Al-Haizan said that the ministry and the universities have worked out a plan to facilitate smooth admission procedures. “We have taken advantage of the procedures that have proven successful over the years. All the arrangements are in place to complete online admission procedures,” he said, adding that this would help students avoid a long and tedious journey to university headquarters seeking admission. It would also ensure transparency in admission procedures. “Saudi Post’s Express Mail Service would be utilized to receive certificates and other documents of the applicants to verify the information supplied in the application,” he said.

According to Al-Haizan, Minister of Higher Education Khaled Al-Anqari has directed that the concerned university officials have full powers to take decisions on applications. They would be in charge of sites handling applications of new entrants. These officials should be in constant touch with the ministry to know the daily status of vacancies available at each university. He also directed the universities to each open a contact office to receive complaints from students and redress their grievances and facilitate all necessary admission procedures.

Apart from regular courses, Al-Haizan said, applications for parallel and distant education courses will also be received online. He noted that the announced vacancies do not include those seats available in post graduation levels at colleges in addition to vacancies in institutions under the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), General Administration Institute, military sector as well as colleges under the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu.