331researchers have produced many reports, for example, alternative funding of higher
education, internationalisation and globalisation of Saudi higher education, review
and assessment of King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP), integration of
Saudi public universities and enhancing women higher education in Saudi Arabia.
These groups are considered some of the main Saudi research communities into the
field of higher education.
Main Features of the System
Some major achievements and the main challenges facing the higher education sys-
tem in Saudi Arabia have been discussed in many written articles. For instance,
Mazi and Abouammoh ( 2009 ) presented the trends and strategies for the develop-
ment of the higher education system prior to the AAFAQ ( 2011 ). It was found that
most of the newly established universities are off-city or off-region campuses of
older universities. For example, the following is a list of newly established universi-
ties affiliated to an older university and in brackets the year of their establishment:
Khalid University (1999), the University of Qassim (2004), the University of Aljouf
(2005), Prince Sattam University (2009), the University of Shagraa (2009) and the
University of Majmaa (2009) are all affiliates of King Saud University (1957).
Similarly, King Abdulaziz University (1960) has five regenerations, and Imam
Mohamed Ben Saud University (1975) has three regenerations. It seems that the
process of growing the number of universities is expected to be put on hold, possi-
bly for a few years to come, for various economic, political and policy reasons. In
fact, higher education in Saudi Arabia should not only address the national develop-
ment plan and respond to the growing demands of its students, but it has to stress the
humanitarian role it has on coexistence, cooperation and integration with the whole
world. It also has to follow international standards in preparing students with skills
and be visible on international classifications and rankings of universities
(Abouammoh 2009 ).
A synopsis of the development and growth of Saudi HE was given by Alamri
( 2011 ), where he listed a few strengths and weaknesses of the system. KASP stu-
dents studying abroad are recruited with high gender equity. Furthermore, Saudi
female students in this and other scholarship programmes are required to be accom-
panied, “mahram”, by an immediate family member, whose living and education
expenses are covered by a government grant. Saudi Arabia, due to the impact of
KASP, has become one of the top states regarding the international mobility of its
students. It is expected that foreign-educated Saudi students will enhance the cul-
tural, educational and socio-political diversity in the country. This will certainly
motivate society to give more autonomy to HE institutions and additional support to
the activities of non-government organisations (NGOs) in Saudi Arabia. On the
other hand, the Saudi HE system is centrally managed, and it has two distinct cate-
gories of staff, Saudi and non-Saudi. The dissimilarities between Saudi and non-
Saudi staff include the type of contract, allowances, incentives and the holding of
19 The Regeneration Aspects for Higher Education Research in the Kingdom of Saudi...