In 1975 the KSA Ministry of Higher Education was established. The Ministry is responsible for implementing the government's policy in HE. Higher education has considerable support from the government in a variety of ways. The government supports the establishment of new universities and scientific and applied colleges (M.E, 2015b). The government provides significant financial allocations in budgets for HE. In 2015 the government decided to integrate the Ministry of Higher Education with the Ministry of Education. The new Ministry of Education now includes both public education and HE in KSA (M.E, 2015b).
The history of HE institutions in the KSA started in 1950 when the College of Sharia in Makkah was established and secondary school graduates and their equivalents were accepted. The College of Teachers was established in Makkah in 1953 to collaborate with the College of Sharia in the graduation of secondary school teachers. In total, seven universities were established in the years leading up to 1967: Umm Al QURA University 1952, AL- Imam Ibn Saud Islamic University 1953, King Saud University 1957, Islamic University of Madinah 1961, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals 1963, King Fisal University 1964 and King Abdulaziz University. From 1971 the policy of establishing universities in KSA resulted in twenty more universities being instituted by the year 2013. The following table shows the considerable growth of establishing Governmental universities in KSA:
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No Governmental University The dates of establishment
1. Umm Al QURA University 1952
2. AL- Imam Ibn Saud Islamic University 1953
3. King Saud University 1957
4. Islamic University of Madinah 1961
5. King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals 1963
6. King Faisal University 1964
7. King Abdulaziz University 1967
8. Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University 1975
9. Taif University 1979
10. King Khalid University 1998
11. Qassim University 2003
12. Taibah University 2003
13. Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University 2004
14. University of Hail 2005
15. Jazan University 2005
16. Jouf University 2005
17. King Saud bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences
2005
18. Albaha University 2006
19. University of Tabuk 2006
20. Najran University 2006
21. Northern Border University 2007
22. Shaqra University 2008
23. Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University 2009
24. Majmaah University 2009
25. Saudi Electronic University 2011
26. University of Jeddah 2013
27. University of Bisha 2013
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In the last decade, the system of HE in KSA has witnessed rapid growth. Over this time, the Saudi government has maintained substantial and direct regulation over almost all aspects of HE. Historically, the Saudi Higher Education sector has had to rely on the public money for most of its funding and infrastructure. Recently, the private business sector in KSA has started to contribute by providing money and resources to support the growth of research development in universities, including full funding for major endowment projects and research chairs in a variety of disciplines. Although endowments and other charitable contributions comprise a new domain in Saudi HE, this domain represents a significant principle of Saudi religious practice. It therefore represents a natural development in the evolution of HE. As many Saudi universities are now generating much of their own research funding, public universities are increasingly lobbying the Ministry of Education for the right to make their own decisions about the allocation of such funding. The Saudi government still provides significant financial support for public universities and therefore it has exercised strong control over the governance of universities (Al-Eisa and Smith, 2013). Private universities in the KSA are regulated by the government, with the Ministry of Education overseeing a set of policy guidelines regarding establishment, operation and licensing (GDPHE, 2018).
Saudi higher education comprises three kinds of establishment (M.E, 2015b):
1. Government universities: there are twenty-seven state universities spread across all regions of the Kingdom. These have a high capacity to provide educational opportunities for large numbers of students. These universities offer scientific and practical majors in various fields. All HEIs linked to the Ministry of Education enjoy a great deal of autonomy in administrative, financial and academic aspects (I.M., 2012).
2. Private higher education: in 1997 the government agreed to enable the private sector to establish some ‘not-for-profit’ educational institutions. There are nine private universities and thirty-four private colleges in the country. These educational institutions provide scientific and practical majors in various fields. They are doing their part to meet the needs of development in the Kingdom, and to complement the role played by government universities.
3. Higher education abroad: the government universities send their staff to obtain degrees from distinguished international universities. Under a systematic plan the
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Ministry of Education also sends a large number of secondary school graduates to complete their undergraduate studies in excellent international universities.
Today the progress of nations is widely understood to in part depend on the extent to which they build and develop human resources. Higher education is one of the most important means of preparing human capital. Through HE programs, nations aim to meet their needs by building capacity and providing the skills required by the market and for national development (Bush and Coleman, 2000, M.E, 2018). Around the world the HE sector is undergoing change, transformation and facing challenges related to the development of modern technology, information and culture (Duderstadt et al., 2003 and M.E, 2018). Some argue that the challenge today for HEIs is to drive the development of knowledge economies, understood as that part of the economy directly based on the production, dissemination and use of knowledge and information in a variety of products and service activities (Altrichter and Elliot, 2000 and M.E, 2018). To this end, the Saudi government has sought to direct HE towards establishing real partnerships with the labour sector, so that HEIs act as research centres for the production of knowledge by developing programs and methods to provide people with the necessary knowledge and skills to enter the labour market (Al-Anqari, 2006 and Howaidy and Guenuah, 2013). The Saudi Ministry of Education has introduced extensive change, restructuring universities to reflect the trends of development in national and international labour markets through a series of programs and procedures detailed in short, medium and long-term plans. These plans include seven axes: acceptance and absorption, harmonization, quality, finance, scientific research, scholarship and strategic planning (Smith and Abouammoh, 2013 and M.E, 2018).
Through the new Saudi vision 2030, the government is working to close the gap between the outputs of HE and the requirements of the economy and labour market. The new initiatives will help students make careful career decisions. Training will be offered to help them transition between different educational pathways. It is hoped that, by 2030, at least five Saudi universities will be among the top two hundred universities in international rankings. To achieve that, a modern curriculum focused on rigorous standards in literacy, numeracy, skills and character development, is being prepared. Progress in the field of education will be tracked and outcomes will published every year to ensure accountability.
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The HE will work closely with the private sector to ensure HE outcomes are in line with the requirements of the market (Saudi Vision-2030, 2018).
The following table gives selected figures relating to the expansion and development of the HE sector in KSA:
Government universities 27
Colleges in government universities 508
Students in government universities 880,003 Faculty members in government universities 45169
Institutes and scientific research centres 238
Scientific associations 135
Scientific journals 53
Private universities 11
Private colleges 39
Technical colleges 37
High technical institutes for girls 14
Industrial colleges 5
Table 2. 2: Selected Higher Education Statistics in Saudi Arabia (M.E, 2018)
In spite of this large quantitative expansion in HE, the development of quality has been limited (Zaher, 2007). Consequently, in the past few years, academic institutions have tended to reconsider their institutional planning, academic programmes and activities, so to ensure they fit with the changing requirements of the era. This has included evaluating educational process, academic accreditation, QA and the drawing up of plans for improvement and development (Zaher, 2007, I.M., 2012).