Sultan Al-Sughair Saudi Gazette DAMMAM – The third international conference in quality in post-secondary education which was held Tuesday at Dammam University, underscored the urgency for sustained quality education for job security and future advancement. The Academic Accreditation Authority director of Dammam University Dr. Abdullah Al Muslim said “the Authority started the development program due to the fact that many Saudi universities were not totally developed where we have to attract experts to assist in the development process.” Regarding the higher education outcomes which have reflected in unemployment in the Saudi labor market, Al Muslim said that in the past they had to rely on inputs, but now they focus on outcomes as well. “The program is now described to know how the student's level will be, but that will need a little time,” he said. “Quality is the university's responsibility, the Accreditation Authority assists the university in this aspects, where they can go on working together in partnership with the private sector for the study plans design.” The Accreditation Authority is composed of six members from universities, ministry of education, technical education, health specialties council and other sectors, which evaluates universities and submit the evaluation to the Ministry of Higher Education board. Al Muslim pointed out that the Authority was launched in three phases. The first phase is to develop a system consisting of several documents carried out by international experts, taking into consideration our cultural environment. The second phase is the transitional phase. This is the initialization and training phase for post-secondary education in the Kingdom, where tens of programs are provided to train and place an order within universities; which is continuing in terms of training. The third stage is the full implementation of the system, saying that system standards were carefully chosen and each standard has a number of sub-criteria. Regarding the lack of accredited Saudi universities, Al Muslim said that eight universities have been approved and 30 programs were approved in the first session. Dammam University president Dr. Abdullah Al-Rubaish said that the study outcomes are compatibility with the labor market. Al-Rubaish said “The Ministry of Higher Education is working to reduce some of the programs that have no acceptance in the labor market.” Regarding distance learning programs, Al Muslim stressed that if it is implemented in the right way, it would be successful in its outcome. He said “E-learning programs have been reviewed and developed as it must be.” Al-Rubaish said the Ministry of Higher Education will stop the e-learning in the next five years so this kind of education can only be only in e-university. Asked on how long it will take to apply the quality concept in in Saudi universities and the added value that universities should gained in the future, Al-Rubaish said efforts are underway to implement a quality system through establishing quality deanship at many universities and the awareness raised existence of the need to have and apply the quality system. Al Muslim noted that the Authority has many standards that enable the universities to assess themselves initially. About the obstacles in applying the quality system, Al Muslim said the first obstacle is the lack of experienced faculty members in quality, and the Authority role of detecting fake certificates. Al Muslim said that there are discovered cases. “A small number of fake certificates of some faculty members from outside the Kingdom have been discovered. It is the concern of the Ministry of Higher Education.” The conference is held every two years in order to spread the culture of quality.
