Minister of Higher Education Khaled Al-Anqari announced here Tuesday that 92 percent of last year's approximately one million high school leavers achieved admission to university at the last intake and that 60 percent of university places went to females. The minister revealed the figures at the opening of the International Exhibition of Higher Education and added that the number of government universities had increased from seven to 24 in 12 years, in addition to the 29 private universities and colleges opened in recent years. “About 26 percent of the state's income has been allocated to education,” Al-Anqari said. “Higher education strategy in the Kingdom involves being a partner in development by producing qualified human resources, and higher education is a fundamental axis in producing a qualified workforce through skills development and applied education,” he said. Al-Anqari also described the Kingdom's scholarship programs for foreigners as “one of the most important cornerstones for achieving constructive dialogue among nations.” Ali Al-Atiya, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and organizer of the exhibition, said that higher education seeks to “keep pace with advances in all fields of knowledge.” “The exhibition in Riyadh seeks to attract select higher education institutions, and around 340 universities from 30 countries are taking part in the 18 sessions in which 50 specialists from all over the world will be speaking,” Al-Atiya said. Among the 18 scientific sessions some 53 experts from a 32 renowned international universities will speak on a number of issues and share their experience by presenting case studies on the sidelines of the exhibition. – Okaz/SG with inputs from Shahid Ali Khan __
