339public and private universities can play a crucial role in transforming Saudi Arabia
into a knowledge-based economy.
E-learning has expanded in many Saudi universities, and it is considered as an
alternative to the old system of “entisab” or distance learning through mail corre-
spondence that was practised by some Saudi universities. Saudi universities have
recognised the role and the advantages of e-learning in increasing the capacity of
university education and improving many aspects of quality measures. Nowadays,
there are many e-learning and e-education programmes at many Saudi universities.
Until now, the practised mode has been blended e-learning, where 25% of the learn-
ing load is delivered through instruction on campus and almost all exams are done
physically. The Saudi higher education authority, the Saudi Electronic University
(SEU), does not recognise foreign e-learning degrees. Founded in 2012, it is grow-
ing fast and introducing new programmes almost every academic year. Consequently,
this has discouraged other Saudi higher education authorities to expand significantly
in e-learning. It has been formally agreed that other higher education programmes
conducting e-learning have to be limited or left to the SEU only. Aljabre ( 2012 )
reviewed the challenges facing this type of higher education in Saudi Arabia and
noted that there is a lot of public demand for e-learning despite various challenges.
He anticipated that university policy makers needed to address the growing demand
and expand in this mode of education. The SEU noted that there is a significant
number of dropouts and withdrawals from some masters’ programmes, which might
be due to unrealistic expectations by some students that e-learning is a softer option
than traditional education. In fact, the vast size of Saudi Arabia and the long dis-
tances between towns and cities would make e-learning a good choice to spread
education in rural areas.
Research funding is one of the major issues in Saudi higher education. Fifteen
years ago, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) used to be
the main source of research funding, other than the limited, itemised research fund
in the university budget. In the past few years, the former Ministry of Higher
Education has played a role in creating or encouraging other sources of research
funding in the public and private sectors. In 2011, research funding in Saudi Arabia
reached around 1% of the state’s GDP, with the government contribution being
about 70%, while the rest came from various non-government sectors (MoHE
2013 ). The spending on research, including research chairs and KASP, has almost
doubled during the period 2010–2013; even its ratio to the GDP has fallen, since
government oil revenues have increased dramatically. This spending ratio to GDP
on research in Saudi Arabia is less than that of the United States, the United
Kingdom, Japan and the Russian Federation, but it is higher than South Africa or
Mexico (MoHE 2013 ).
The main challenges to private higher education are quality, funding and acces-
sibility. The government of Saudi Arabia encouraged non-profit, for-profit higher
education at a time where there was a shortage of places in Saudi public higher
education. Two years ago, in 2013, the Ministry of Higher Education admitted that
there were tens of thousands of available places in many of the newly established
universities. Even so, private higher education grew rapidly between 2005 and
19 The Regeneration Aspects for Higher Education Research in the Kingdom of Saudi...