333the interaction between the university and its local community. In addition, it is used
to attract and provide incentives to high quality researchers and to support them to
excel in their careers. Some academics feel that endowment revenues can be used
more efficiently than their current provision in the government budget, to initiate
and sustain the competitiveness of Saudi universities on an international platform.
The additional finance given to research and technology programmes over the
past few years has had a very clear impact on the classification of Saudi universities
on the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and the Times Higher
Education World University Rankings (THEWUR). Some universities made
arrangements with internationally renowned professors to be part-time members or
be partially affiliated to their institutions. Part of the requirement of these professors
might also be for them to spend a few weeks at the Saudi university every year.
These arrangements and other research funds through research chairs have greatly
increased the status of King Saud University, King Abdulaziz University and King
Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, pushing them into the top 300 in the
rankings. In fact, King Saud University was the first Saudi university or even Arab
university to be included in the top 500 universities in the world by the ARWU. In
2010, King Saud University was ranked among the world’s top 400 universities,
while King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals was among the top 500
universities. King Saud University has advanced in the ARWU from 401-500 to
301-400 and then to 201–300 and 151–200 in the 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014 rank-
ings. Similarly, King Abdulaziz University advanced from 301-400 to 151-200 in
the ARWU in 2010 (MoHE 2013 ).
These high positions and speedy advancement in the ranking positions in the
ARWU, the QS World University Ranking, Times Higher Education Index, US
News and World Report and Webometrics and Scimago Institutional Ranking have
raised questions. Local and international articles have been written about the trans-
parency and the proper research support that might be utilised to advance the rank-
ing position of the institution, whereas little or no importance is given to other aims
of research activities. It was even claimed that “Saudi universities offer cash in
exchange for academic prestige” by (Bhattacharjee 2011 ). In spite of the bad impact
of this article and the different reactions from different universities, it has helped all
stakeholders at Saudi universities to put more efforts into directing research towards
internal institutions and postgraduate study and to actual local research.
Furthermore, the council of ministers has approved four university companies,
namely, Riyadh Techno-Valley, Jeddah Techno-Valley and Dhahran Techno-Valley,
to operate at King Saud University, King Abdulaziz University and King Fahd
University of Petroleum and Minerals, respectively, and techno-valley at Umm
Al-Qura University. These initiatives are considered as important tools for the uni-
versities to build partnerships with the public and private sectors in the area of
knowledge economics, innovation and industry.
The intended strategy of these techno-valleys is to develop industrial partner-
ships and initiate science parks in the three universities. Furthermore, all endow-
ment research chairs are privately funded and last for either 3 or 5 years, to support
research in disciplines the sponsors feel are important to them. These chairs are
19 The Regeneration Aspects for Higher Education Research in the Kingdom of Saudi...