Al-Jazirah TALKING recently about the large number of the university students, Education Minister Ahmed Al-Issa has underlined the need for the establishment of more universities in the Kingdom to intake the increasing number of the secondary school graduates. He noted that the 28 government universities were no longer enough to absorb the increasing number of boys and girls graduating from secondary schools in various regions of the Kingdom. With the population increase, the number of students in need of university education will similarly rise. If we do not carefully plan the population explosion, we may find our future generations without good education. The rate of unemployment will also increase and may cause a sharp downturn in our economic growth and security stability if remedial steps are not taken forthwith. For instance in Japan, which has achieved great educational development, there are 95 government and 597 private universities. In Turkey, there are 109 public and 61 private universities while in Iran there are about 300 government and private universities. We are the single country with the largest number of students studying abroad thanks to the scholarship program of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The graduates of this program, with their newly acquired knowledge and culture, will have a great impact on the future of our country. It would be much better if this was coupled with the establishment of a large number of government and private universities with specializations which are in conformity with our ambitions for the future of our nation. The return of the graduates armed with education and culture and the establishment of more universities will also serve the concept of the diversification of economy and sources of income and will also boost industry. This will make us look toward the future with confidence and hope. The establishment of regional universities which began during the reign of King Abdullah should not stop. It should rather continue with a focus on the scientific and vocational specializations required by the labor market. The new universities should also make their own sources of income so as not to depend on the government subsidies alone. This will provide them with financial independence and will enable them to finance many of their projects. The universities should also make their own endowments to boost their income and to lure the private sector making it a partner in their activities and products. The universities can also invest in the lands under their property. They can exploit these lands to establish multi-story buildings which they can rent for companies, establishments and hotels. The best institution qualified for this step is King Saud University in Riyadh which can exploit the lands it owns in the capital city. The other universities may follow suit for two main reasons: first they will relieve the burden on the government budget and second they will ensure themselves with financial independence. They will, therefore, achieve complete independence in their decisions and scientific researches. Nations will not develop if they did not give the education more support, development and independence. By so doing, every nation will be qualified to join the track of the developed countries. They will also be knowledge societies. This is what we hope for in the Kingdom. We will be able to achieve our hopes and aspirations which some people consider to be impossible at the moment. The vision we are dreaming of will not be realized without building a strong educational base. We should also continue our scholarship program and keep on contracting foreign experts to teach in our universities. The universities should be part of our GDP and one of the strong pillars of our national economy.
