Part 2: Saudi education strengthens its domestic base

For this latest venture a coalition of 32 American universities under the umbrella of the Texas International Education Consortium will help set up and run the new university for two years after it opens. The new Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd University will have 17 academic programmes all taught in English.

Indeed it is not clear whether Saudi Arabia's funded study abroad programmes are part of a long term strategy, or whether this will change when the latest five year scholarship plan comes to a close. Arab News has recently argued that in order to encourage the development of the kingdom in the long term, it will be necessary to increase investment in Saudi universities both by bolstering the capacities of existing institutions and by funding the establishment of new universities on Saudi soil.

There have been widespread concerns that sending students abroad could contribute towards brain drain for the home nation, and that the high cost of overseas provision might inhibit the large scale investment needed for Saudi universities.

In fact the Saudi government has recently provided additional large scale investment to fund existing and open new universities on Saudi soil. $104 has been allocated to education in the kingdom's latest budget, reportedly the largest in its history. In 2004, overall education spending increased by 24% from the previous year, and higher education has been named as a top priority for the kingdom's immediate future.

Three new universities

In June 2005, three new universities were approved by royal decree, and three additional universities were created through a process of mergers involving Qassim University, Taibe University and Taif University. The Ministry also announced tentative plans in October 2005 to transform 102 women's colleges in the kingdom into women's universities, and confirmed that six women's colleges in Riyadh had received official orders to merge into one new university.

These new universities are aimed at boosting capacity in the already overburdened university system and developing a domestic, highly skilled workforce. With growing population rates and approximately half of the population of 26 million under 30 years of age, demand for tertiary education is set to expand drastically over the next decade.

Total educational enrolments over the last two decades have quadrupled and the gross enrolment ratio for tertiary level education in 2004 was approximately 22%, which highlights an increase on previous years but is still low compared to other Arab nations. There are currently 11 public universities and approximately 60 other public tertiary institutions in Saudi Arabia, including women's colleges, health and technical institutes and teachers colleges, all run by the government in some guise.

Skill shortages

Indeed the relatively small public tertiary sector has been unable to meet the increasing and highly specialised demands of the domestic labour market.

In the mid 1990's, a group of government, business and universities in the Arab Gulf States was set up to co-ordinate the programmes offered by public universities and align them to the needs of the labour market, an initiative which has allegedly lead to some positive developments in this area. However, even today only a small percentage of Saudi students reportedly graduate in subject areas relevant to modern industries such as medicine and engineering.

Businesses operating in Saudi Arabia have been required to import foreign nationals to fill their skills gaps, particularly in areas such as science and technology. The Saudi government has set as one of its key goals the re-nationalisation of its work force and the development of tertiary and specialist education to fill existing key skills shortages and curb dependency on foreign labour. It is looking over time to replace the five million plus employed expatriates (an estimated 21% of the total Saudi population are foreigners) with skilled Saudi nationals.

The Saudi government could increasingly turn to private and foreign provision as a source of additional capacity. The Saudi government approved the first two private universities in collaboration with US institutions, and has since been actively encouraging the expansion of the private sector. In October 2005, Mohamed Al-Saleh, secretary-general of the Higher Education Council, announced that preliminary licenses had been issued to approximately 60 additional investors in Saudi Arabia to establish private colleges across the kingdom.

Foreign campuses

Earlier in 2006, an announcement was made by the Ministry of Higher Education that foreign universities would for the first time be allowed to set up campuses in the kingdom. Saad al Haqqan, Director of Public Relations at the Ministry, indicated: 'We hope that foreign universities will help us meet the demands of higher education for Saudi students'. There had already been a confirmed agreement to open a German/Saudi Business School in Sudair (200 km from the capital Riyadh) by September 2008, before news broke about the Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd University.

The German/Saudi Business School will be entirely funded by the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce, and could suggest a shift towards a more large-scale model of transnational provision.

The MoHE recently reported that 38 UK institutions and other universities from Australia and Singapore have in recent months made inquiries to the Saudi government about the possibility of opening branch campuses in the kingdom. The status of these applications remains unclear, but it seems that sending students overseas is only one aspect of the Saudi plan for tertiary education.

* For this exclusive article AME info thanks the UK Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, a subscription-based strategic information service, initially established by the Association of Commonwealth Universities and Universities UK, which tracks and reports on developments within borderless higher education.