Government | Friday 27 February, 2015 2:59 am |

Shoura Council members have lambasted the Ministry of Education (formerly Ministry of Higher Education) for not doing enough research, vacant teaching positions, and inability to help students find jobs. Fahad bin Juma’ said universities do not have research capacity, while Firdous Al-Saleh said that these institutions have 767 vacancies that have not been filled.
Al-Saleh said the Shoura has failed to get an answer from universities about what they are doing to get funding for research. They should develop their own endowment projects to raise funds, she said.

Saleh Al-Hameid said there is no clear idea what certain scientific chairs offer even though they have been operational for eight years. Abdullah Al-Otaibi called for an evaluation of health specializations, with clear specifications for each one.
Mansour Al-Kraidis said SR20 billion is spent on the scholarship program for 150,000 students a year, but the Shoura does not have a breakdown of these figures or the problems faced by scholarship students.

Hamad Al-Fahad said that universities encourage their lecturers to get their doctorates overseas but then employ them at their previous salary levels when they return home.
Hamda Al-Enezi said there is considerable unemployment amongst scholarship students, and wondered what universities are doing to help them benefit from their studies. She said some Saudi universities do not have specializations of scholarship students.
Dalal Al-Harbi said the Education Minister Azzam Al-Dakhil has not yet unveiled a special strategy for universities, demanded that these institutions should be independent from the ministry, and that there should be a review of university laws in existence since 1993.