King Saud University: On a Mission

The university is admirably led by its president, Professor Dr. Abdullah Al-Othman. Since his inception as the rector of KSU, the university has grown both in quality and regard. His unwavering leadership and vision has helped the university achieve unprecedented development never seen before in its 50 year history. His efforts have promoted KSU to the best university within the Islamic world and the No. 1 ranked in the Middle East. He now has his sights on the international arena as well, with numerous collaborations and development programs within the global education and research community. He is fortunate to be aided by the Vice Rector for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, Dr. Ali Saeed Al-Ghamdi. Dr. Ali, who earned a doctorate in civil engineering from Ohio State University, is committed to the cause of taking education and research to a whole new level, never before seen in the Middle East. He has relentlessly pursued and been successful in creating several successful programs for education and research development and now also heads the knowledge exchange and technology transfer (KETT) office in the university.

King Saud University has recently begun a massive program of investment and development to create a truly world class research university. Among the many initiatives to realize this aspiration are the recruitment of many distinguished international researchers, the Riyadh Knowledge Corridor, the Nobel Laureates Program and the establishment of several centers of research excellence. Recent appointments include Louis Ignarro, winner of the 1996 Nobel Award for medicine. Along with this the university has started its project to build its own science and technology park, Riyadh Techno Valley. The STP will be a key investment vehicle and is sure to attract major global organizations to ply their trade in the Kingdom.

Riyadh Technology Incubation Center (RTIC), under the leadership of its CEO, Dr. Mezyad Alterkawi, is now one of the major technology incubators in the Middle East, and is the first within the Kingdom to become a member of the National Business Incubation Association. Other major programs include building one of the largest university campuses in the world for women, King Abdullah institute for NANO Technology, Prince Sultan International Program for Research Scholarships, the Entrepreneurship Center, the National Diabetes Center and several more.

According to the 2009 rankings for best international universities, King Saud University ranked 1st position in the Middle east and 247th globally. The university is located in a large, modern state-of-the-art campus equipped with the latest instructional technology. There are no tuition fees at the university and generous scholarships are available for Saudi and international postgraduate students. Research and library facilities are of international standards. The university offers postgraduate courses in civil, electrical, mechanical, petroleum and chemical engineering, business administration, psychology, economics, accounting, law, political science, archaeology, European and Asian languages, education, social studies, Islamic studies and history and has special strengths in biology, chemistry, medicine and environmental sciences.

KSU strives towards achieving His Highness King Abdullah’s vision of creating a knowledge based economy for Saudi Arabia. This is in sharp contrast with what the oil rich country has been dependent on so far. The pioneering vision is sure to enable the Kingdom to achieve more self sustainability in the future. His Royal Highness has approved of several projects within the university that promote research, education and self sustainability which the coming generations are sure to benefit from. KSU is on a mission, a mission to achieve what not many people thought possible: a well educated population with its economy based on knowledge and not oil. Skeptics may think there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, but that hasn’t stopped KSU from digging.