347and learning and research skills of Saudi students abroad and their acculturation
with other societies is a multidimensional field of research.
There are also many issues to be investigated in the field of self-governance of
universities, integration of the Saudi higher education system and increasing the
ratio of Saudi teaching staff, as well as international students.
Foreign higher education introduction in the Saudi system of higher education
was a very controversial issue and might face much social, language, financial and
religious challenges. Reasonable governance for the provision of foreign higher
education that take into account most concerns of all stakeholders would need a lot
of research, discussion and new policies. Saudi Arabia, see Saudi Arabia’s Vision
2030 ( 2016 ), and its National Transformation Plan have dealt with many challenges
that foreign higher education and private higher education might face.
Stakeholders in the Saudi higher education system and Saudi academics have
realised the volume of issues that the Saudi higher education system has, requiring
additional or deeper research and investigation.
To assist researchers and research students, the Centre for Higher Education
Research and studies (CHERS) was founded in 2001, and King Saud Chair for
Higher Education Studies, based at the Imam Mohammed bin Saud University in
Riyadh, was founded in 2015. The purpose of CHERS and the research chair is to
support researchers and graduate students in their investigations into the various
features and characteristics of Saudi higher education and the many challenges it
faces. In fact, there are research centres in colleges of education in almost every
Saudi university. This might be due to the historical background of some of these
universities, which started life as colleges of education.
Research appears in the Saudi Journal of Higher Education, which has been pub-
lished biannually since 2004. It has revealed the wide range of topics that have been
of concern to various stakeholders in Saudi higher education. The last issue of the
journal was published online only. Example of issues; of concern to the research
community in Saudi Arabia, mission differentiation of institutions, parallel higher
education i.e. formal degree programme offered in the evening, alternative funding,
private for-profit higher education, internationalisation and globalisation of Saudi
higher education, roles of community colleges and appropriate governance of uni-
versities along wider autonomy.
The Academic Leadership Center (ALC) has also participated considerably in
building effective ambience for wider higher education research community in
Saudi Arabia. Bringing leaders, at various levels of university management, and
enhancing their leadership skills and inspire them to discuss challenges and experi-
ences along with some distinguished international experts are one of the key ALC’s
programmes and objectives. Thus, different activities of the ALC form an important
Saudi research and learning community into the field of higher education.
The Saudi Higher Education Observatory at the Ministry of Education provides
information about the status of international higher education to decision makers.
The observatory also regularly publishes indicators of the status of Saudi higher
education and compares it with its international counterparts. Analysis of these indi-
19 The Regeneration Aspects for Higher Education Research in the Kingdom of Saudi...