By Abdullah Al-Ghamdi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — Saudi universities have spent only about a total of SR100 million over the years out of SR6 billion earmarked for research, Education Minister Hamad Bin Mohammed Al-Asheikh has said.

He was talking during a workshop in Jeddah on Saturday on the future of the Saudi universities and ways to promote their performance.

More than 300 experts including university rectors and academics attended the workshop, which was held at King Faisal Conference Center at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah.

"This is an evidence of weakness of compatibility to and coordination with the targets of Vision 2030," he said.

The minister asked the universities to take initiatives that would further boost research activities, which is an important matter.

He said the Kingdom's spending on education is equivalent to the combined expenditure on education by 10 advanced countries.

"According to Vision 2030, at least five Saudi universities should scale up to be among the top 200 universities in the world and this will be possible only if we are able to manage them properly," he said.

Al-Asheikh asked the universities to be centers for the Kingdom's soft power through research aimed at defending Saudi society and its causes.

He also asked the university rectors to find effective solutions to the challenges facing the post-graduate education in the Kingdom.

"The development of university education will positively reflect on the Kingdom's pivotal role in developing the knowledge economy around the world," he said.