Strategic Plan & Accreditation

Untitled Document
  • Introduction

  • Vision, Mission & Core Values

  • Strategic Directions & Goals

  • Initiatives

Since its founding, Saudi Arabia has witnessed rapid economic and social development. Benefitting from its oil wealth and visionary public policy makers, the government has sponsored a series of ambitious five-year strategic economic development plans focusing on fostering the economic, social and cultural well-being of its young population. While early plans focused on establishing the country’s basic infrastructure, subsequent plans focused on the development of a viable and vibrant private sector that can carry the wheel of development into the future and stay competitive in a global market environment. At the same time, the government shifted the role of generating sufficient and attractive employment to the private sector through mandating systematic Saudization of private sector jobs. As the private sector developed and gained maturity the demand for high quality, business trained and globally oriented employees has risen. Accordingly, studies in economics and business are in high demand by many high schools graduates. To equip universities with the tools needed provide top quality business education, the government of Saudi Arabia has been allocating generous funds for higher education. For example, the past two economic developmental plans have allocated one third of the budget to education with strong and clear mandates that universities bring their program and curriculum offering to ‘ the bar’ with international standards and best practices in management education. Along with the need to stress the role of universities in advancing research and contribute to the development of their local communities and the continuous development of academic faculty and staff. In addition to the national l support extended by the government to institutions of higher learning, the demand for higher education has increased substantially in Saudi Arabia. This is due to a very young population where 47% of the population is below the age of 25. This surge in demand is evident by the increase in the number of public universities from two universities in the mid-1960s to 28 public universities and 10 private universities today.

KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY (KAU) is the largest and second oldest public university in Saudi Arabia. KAU was established in 1967 and is one of the twenty-eight state-owned and funded universities in Saudi Arabia. As such, the university is accredited with the statutory power to award its students with degrees and other qualifications that are nationally and internationally recognized.

KAU has a student population over 140,000. It employs about 4,000 academic staff and 5,000 administrative staff, and has an annual budget of around $1.6 billion. It comprises 24 schools/faculties, including the Faculty of Economics and Administration (FEA).

The FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND ADMINISTRATION (FEA) was established in 1967 and has developed to become one of the major schools in the country. FEA has ten academic departments – Business Administration, Accounting, Economics, Public Administration, Political Sciences, Health Care Services and Hospital Management, Management Information System, Finance, Marketing, and Human Resources Management. FEA has a student population of over 3,000 full-time undergraduate students of which approximately 1,200 are enrolled in the undergraduate programs under the scope of the AACSB accreditations. In addition, approximately 700 students are enrolled in the four graduate business programs considered under the scope of accreditation. The school offers a full range of degrees from tailored short-course certificates to masters’ degrees.

FEA has satisfactory infrastructure and financial means to support the entire range of its activities. Its teaching programs consist of both the bachelor-degree programs and master’s degree programs. Most of these programs are delivered on-campus. The entire school with its ten departments employs 254 full-time academic staff of whom 117 are employed in the programs under the scope of accreditation. FEA employs more than 130 non-academic staff for faculty and student support.

 


Last Update
3/5/2015 4:09:32 PM