Okaz/Saudi Gazette

MAKKAH — Umm Al-Qura University has embarked on a major project to develop more than 100 electronic textbooks for its colleges, said Dr. Abdul Aziz Surouji, vice president for educational affairs.

“The deanship for electronic and distance education is working on this project. It will select the books required by the university and its colleges and convert them into interactive digital textbooks,” he said while talking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette.

He also disclosed the university’s strategic plan to convert its classrooms into smart lecture halls with smart boards and projectors to modernize the education system.

“The deanship for electronic and distance education has already installed smart boards in most lecture halls,” the vice president said.

He said the university has introduced four new academic programs and upgraded more than 50 programs during the past two years to meet job market needs and cope with Vision 2030 and demands of the National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment.

Surouji said the university decided to close the hostel for foreign girl students when the number of its beneficiaries came down to less than 100 from the previous strength of more than 500 students.

He said a number of advanced academic programs have been opened in the university’s four campuses for the benefit of students, especially girls. “The university would be ready to shift girl students to its branches that are closer to their homes,” he added.

Surouji said the university has decided to limit hotel services to scholarship students who number more than 5,000, adding that they include students from most Islamic countries.

He said the new admissions would be carried out in coordination with seven universities in the Makkah region and a student would not be allotted more than one seat.

“Students who fail to get admission due to low marks would be allowed to join the university’s preparatory courses that are conducted by the college of community service and continuous education as well as diploma programs of the community college,” he said.

Students who wanted to join the university’s medical, engineering and administrative colleges must attend a one-year preparatory course, Surouji said. “In the remaining colleges admission would be given directly without the need for a preparatory course,” he added.

Surouji said the university would introduce a new system to facilitate admission of the children of military and security officers who fell martyr while defending the Kingdom.