Universities and colleges in for restructuring soon

JEDDAH — Universities and colleges will be restructured within a couple of months to improve their academic performance, giving priority to courses required by the job market. The process will include merger of some colleges with others as well as closing of some colleges and development of others within the framework of Vision 2030. The move comes after the Education Ministry noticed that some colleges do not meet job market requirements with some of them produce graduates specialized in theories. “The restructuring aims at improving the quality of education at universities,” an informed source at the Ministry of Education told Al-Madina Arabic daily. The ministry has noticed that a majority of students prefer theoretical subjects compared to engineering, industrial and productive subjects, the source said. Experts attributed this tendency to the youth’s aversion to professional degrees. According to one report, the number of students who joined professional courses was 8.6 percent of the total applicants in 2009. The figure rose to 12.6 percent in 2010 to decline further to 6.4 percent next year and in the next two years it has fallen to 5.4 and 5.3 percent respectively. Admissions to agricultural courses did not reach more than 0.5 percent, the report said. Students opting for health specializations stood at 7 percent. More than 60 percent of students joined courses in humanities, arts, social science, business, law, education and science. More than 358,000 joined humanities and arts in 2013, accounting for 64 percent of total applicants during the past five years, the ministry pointed out. “Applicants for courses in social science, business and law witnessed remarkable increase,” the ministry said, adding that they accounted for 23 percent of the total or nearly 368,000 students. “There was 32 percent increase in students opting for science topics with 184,128 students including women being enrolled in science colleges,” the report said. Admission for engineering, industrial and other professional courses reached 5.3 percent of the total in 2013. “Students who apply for agricultural courses are still very low,” the report said. A total of 6,076 students, 26 percent of them are girls, joined the agricultural courses in 2013, it added. During the past seven years, the number of universities in the Kingdom rose from 20 to 34. The ratio of universities for every one million population stood at 1.16 in 2013. The universities were established in densely populated cities, the Arabic daily said. Makkah and Riyadh regions have got the largest number of universities — 19. During the same period the number of colleges rose by 74 percent to reach 569 including 72 private colleges.