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Challenges for Saudi Higher Education
The previous sections have given an overall idea of the size and the main character-
istics of Saudi higher education, which has more recently become a university edu-
cation. The Saudi system of higher education has been facing some challenges due
to its local features, fast growth and due to new trends and the international competi-
tiveness of institutions. Many stakeholders and decision makers in Saudi higher
education have acknowledged these challenges.
It has been pointed out that Saudis have a lot to do to improve education mobility
and institutional integration. On the other hand, there are many voices in the Arab
states calling for Arab Space in Higher Education (UNESCO 2009 ).
Issa and Siddiek ( 2012 ) studied the labour market challenges to higher educa-
tion. They stressed that university education is used elsewhere for the measure of
growth of one nation or another. Furthermore, higher education has to lead to
national development in every country. The most old Arab universities are founded
in the twentieth century, for example, Syrian, currently University of Damascus,
founded in 1923; Egyptian Government University, currently University of Cairo
founded in 1925; and next Farouk the First, currently University of Alexandria,
founded in 1942. Later on in the second half of the twentieth century, many univer-
sities had been established in almost every Arab state capital and major city. Even
so, there are common challenges to all Arab universities, including those in Saudi
Arabia. One of the major challenges is the coordination with the labour market, in
terms of quantity, quality and specialisations. The main challenges in this area are
the quality of education, the working skills, funding and the participation of stake-
holders and civil societies in laying down long-term policies.
In a review for health sciences education in Saudi Arabia, Telmesani et al. ( 2011 )
admitted that it is undergoing a phase of reform and expansion, and they urge that
health educators implement accreditation and quality assurance. It has been noted
that one of the potential challenges is the systematic planning of health education
and the health sector and that it has to have more recognition internationally.
On the other hand, Iqbql and Enchenkov ( 2014 ) investigated the problems facing
university-business collaborations in Saudi Arabia. They pointed to the strong cor-
relation between university-business and industry collaboration and the innovation
performance of industry and the development of the higher education sector. This
paper has also explored the differences and agreements on the perceptions of
employers and academics regarding the skills and competencies needed or acquired
by university graduates. This interesting study has shown that universities have to
ensure students gain soft skills and that it is strongly advisable to expose students to
in service-learning programmes. These processes would give a better chance to
proper interaction between business and university education. In another context,
Alfantookh and Bakry ( 2013 ) explored the role of creativity and innovation in
development and their contribution to job creation and the prosperity of society. It
has been stated that creativity implies knowledge and innovation is the tool to
employ knowledge, in order to gain economic value. They also stressed that the 38
A.M. Abouammoh