King Abdulaziz University
Communication and Contribution
New Universities
King Abdulaziz University
Communication and Contribution
• King Abdulaziz University has become a source of experience in establishing new universities as illustrated in founding branches of the university. Most of these branches have been upgraded to become separate universities. Those universities are:
- Umm Al-Qura University - Taibah University
- Jazan University - Tabouk University
- Northern Borders University which is still under the supervision of King Abdulaziz University.
- The Faculty of Medicine in the University of Ha’il which was founded and is still run by King Abdulaziz University.
- Building the Information Technology infrastructure for Princess Nora Bint Abdul-Rahman University.
• The University has passed on its expertise to these new universities, particu- larly in the following fields:
- Project Management and Infrastructure Development (Information Tech- nology – e-administration – Employee and Technician Training).
- Preparing academic programs and curricula that satisfy the needs of the community.
- Providing the requirements of academic accreditation for all new pro- grams.
- Creating the social, cultural and academic environment to attract compe- tent academic and administrative staff and students to those universities.
• The University academically supervises a number of private colleges and in- stitutes including the academic services (preparing curricula for new colleges and institutes, making the most of King Abdulaziz University curricula, evalu- ating the curricula taught in those academic institutions, and the academic supervision of teaching). Here are some of those academic institutions:
- Batterjee Medical College
- College of Business Administration - Dar Al-Hekma College
- Al-Falah International University
Postgraduate Studies King Abdulaziz University
Communication and Contribution
• Ever since it was established, King Abdulaziz University has worked on devel- oping its postgraduate programs as well as giving distinguished students the opportunity to join postgraduate programs in different fields. The University’s currently offers the following postgraduate programs:
- 16 Ph. D. programs
- 58 MA programs consisting of courses and a thesis - 40 MA programs consisting of courses and a project - 6 High diploma programs
- 17 British universities co-supervise female postgraduate students of King Abdulaziz University
• King Abdulaziz University has introduced fully-paid postgraduate programs as follows:
- Executive MBA Program
- Professional Accountancy MA Program
- Health Service and Hospital Management MA Program - Law and Professional Practice MA Program
- Technical Anatomy and Tissues MA Program - Educational Management MA Program - Teaching Techniques MA Program - Instructional Techniques MA Program - High Diploma in Special Education Program - High Diploma in Social Studies Program
• In order to make the most of the latest advances in information and tele- communication technology, the university is conducting an explorative study of the possibilities of applying distance learning methods to postgraduate studies.
Strategic Planning and Partnership King Abdulaziz University
Communication and Contribution
• King Abdulaziz University has always been one of the leading higher education institutions in the Kingdom in adopting strategic planning methods as it has drawn up:
- The strategic plan for the University
- The strategic plan for the academic research sector - The strategic plan for the postgraduate studies sector
- The strategic plan for the media communication between the University and the community
- The strategic plan for the International Islamic Relief Organization
- The future plan for higher education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Afaq) in the fields of academic research, postgraduate studies and engineering education.
• The success of those plans has been reinforced through strategic partner- ships with many public, private and international institutions and organiza- tions such as:
- Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority - General Authority of Civil Aviation
- Islamic Development Bank - Saudi Aramco
- Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC)
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology - Harvard University
- University of Massachusetts - University of Florida
- Clare Hall College, University of Cambridge
- The German Technical Corporation (GTZ) and its partners
- Scientific and academic partnership and affiliation agreements with 10 colleges as part of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System
- 14 Executive contracts with a number of French universities and research centers
Academic Research
King Abdulaziz University
Communication and Contribution
• King Abdulaziz University has always endeavoured to strengthen the role of academic research and the exploitation of its available facilities to serve the community. It follows that the university has also worked towards creating a knowledge society through a pioneering strategic plan for academic research that will transform KAU into a research university.
• Prominent achievements in the field of academic research include:
- Six research centers in various domains: Economics and Administration, Islamic Economics, Medicine, Agriculture, Water, Arts and Humanities - Eight excellence research centers in: Genomic Medicine, Environmental
Studies, Nanotechnology, Hereditary Disorders, Desalination Technology, Osteoporosis, Breast Cancer and Climate Change
- Consolidating Strategic and Advanced Technical Projects - Academic Endowment Fund
- Establishing Research and Endowed Chairs
- Initiating King Abdulaziz University Awards program for Distinction in Aca- demic Research, Distinguished Postgraduate Student
- Initiating Program for Qualifying Researchers - Starting the Researcher Program for Small Grants - Introducing Invention Patent Program
- Introducing Authorship and Translation Program - Founding the Research Group Program
- Founding and fostering about 28 scientific societies
- Starting a program to motivate teaching staff to conduct academic research and publish in scholarly journals
Distance Learning
King Abdulaziz University
Communication and Contribution
• King Abdulaziz University introduced a new program for external students in the academic year 2002/2003 in order to broaden the capacity of accepting students while preserving the same high standards of education. The change aims at gradually transforming the external student program into a distance learning one.
• King Abdulaziz University is the leading university in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the field of distance learning as it has developed 160 e-courses to be taught on-line and is about to add 30 other courses to the list.
• More than 1000 staff members has been trained to use e-learning systems CENTRA and EMES.
• Deanship of Distance Learning is continuously consolidating and developing a sound pedagogy for its programs through adopting the latest technological ways in teaching. Some of the Deanship’s achievements are:
- Developing many courses, curricula and programs for e-education.
- Starting the e-learning management program EMES which is an integrated computer system that manages the distance learning process in order to facilitate the interaction between student and instructor through introduc- ing the material online.
- Creating the virtual classroom system CENTRA which is a smart class- room program that integrates elements of class interaction virtually to cre- ate a perfect e-classroom, which is an essential part of the distance learn- ing process.
• Hasan Abbas Sharbatli’s e-Library (Wiley PLUS), at the Faculty of Eco- nomics and Administration, offers over 23 e-academic courses in different faculties.
Information Technology King Abdulaziz University
Communication and Contribution
• King Abdulaziz University is working towards achieving full e-administration/e- university according to a thorough plan that facilitates communication between every part of the university in an easy way that transcends the limits of time and place. In order to achieve that, the University has linked all of its campuses and branches by a solid computer network which facilitates communication with its different parts and branches via satellites and the Internet to provide its staff and students with e-services such as:
- The ODUS system established by the university to provide the best e-solu- tions and e-academic services to students and staff.
- The e-exam system which was used for the first time in the Kingdom by the Faculty of Medicine to implement full e-examination that includes putting questions and e-marking enabling the students to check their grades instant- ly at the end of the exam.
- E-promotion of the teaching staff which makes promotion procedures easier and to shorten the academic evaluation period, a step that KAU is the first university to take in the Kingdom.
- King Abdulaziz University was the first university to apply e-processing of procedure pertinent to students studying abroad which makes procedures faster and more precise. This system has been forwarded to all cultural at- taches’ offices in Saudi Embassies around the world.
- My University, a service that facilitates communication between students and teaching staff via mobile phone, SMS messages, yet another service that KAU is the first to implement in the Kingdom.
- My Webpage, another e-service that enables any visitor of the webpage to personalize his/her own main page.
- RSS service, provides the web page browser with the latest news as they come.
• King Abdulaziz University web page has been classified the 60th best university web page in the world, and the 11th in Asia according to the International Di- rectory of Universities and Colleges (www.4icu.org) classification which included 200 universities and colleges.
• The web page has also been classified as the 3rd best university web page in the Middle East according to the annual evaluation of the Spanish web page (www.
webometrics.info).
Academic Accreditation King Abdulaziz University
Communication and Contribution
• Academic accreditation is an objective testimony to the development of ac- ademic education and a guarantee of the university’s academic distinction.
Hence, King Abdulaziz University established a unit for academic evaluation whose objective is to help various faculties to attain academic and institutional accreditation of the university. So far, academic accreditation has been accom- plished by:
- Faculty of Engineering was awarded the academic accreditation for the sec- ond time by Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) in 2009.
- King Abdulaziz University Hospital has become the first university hospi- tal to be awarded Health Service Accreditation by the Canadian Council in 2009.
- Jeddah Community College has been accredited by Council on Occupa- tional Education (COE) in 2009, to become the first community college in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be awarded an academic accreditation.
- Faculty of Earth Sciences was awarded the academic accreditation of all its programs by the British Geological Society (GS) in 2008.
- Faculty of Dentistry was awarded the academic accreditation of its curricula by Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) in 2006.
- Educational Diploma Program was awarded a certificate of accreditation for meeting the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) standards by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) in 2006.
- King Abdulaziz University Hospital’s Blood Bank was awarded the interna- tional accreditation by the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) in 2005.
- Faculty of Economics and Administration has been given initial acceptance for international academic accreditation by the Association of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
- The University has begun the procedures of institutional accreditation by the Union of Arab Universities.
Community Service
King Abdulaziz University
Communication and Contribution
• Since community service comes right after education and research in the uni- versity’s mission, King Abdulaziz University established the Deanship of Com- munity Service and Continuing Education to be a link between the university and the community by providing educational opportunities for those who are willing to continue their education through one of its following programs:
- Training Courses Programs: such as TOEFL preparation course, Interna- tional Computer Driving License (ICDL), and Pharmaceutical Continuing Learning Program.
- Vocational Diploma Programs: designed to create job opportunities for high school graduates whose average GPA does not allow them to en- rol in universities. The Deanship offers several vocational diplomas such as Cisco Networking Diploma in addition to diplomas for female students such as the Dentist Assistant Diploma.
- External Students Program: the purpose of this program is enlarging the university’s capacity to enrol the biggest possible number of high school graduates in addition to students who graduated from high school over five years ago.
- The Paid Preparatory Year Program: aims at preparing high school gradu- ates for university education.
- Parallel Medical Education Program: a paid program to study medicine in order to produce physicians to satisfy the health sector’s needs of staff as well as giving the opportunity to high school graduates who do not meet the requirements of studying medicine.
- The scholarships Program: processes scholarship applications and finds sponsor business people and charity organizations to provide grants for students who study in one of the university’s paid programs but are unable to pay tuition fees.
