Current Context of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia - Literature review Example

2.2.2 Current Context of Higher Education in KSA 2.2.2.1 Current Numbers of Higher Education Institutions, Students and Faculty Members Both the number of higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia and the number of students enrolled in them have grown tremendously over the recent years. The same applies to the number of academic staff in these institutions. By the year 2010, there were 24 public universities (Ministry of Higher Education, 2010). These are complemented by 154 colleges that were created in the public universities between 2006 and 2010 to cater for the needs of Saudi Arabia’s national growth (Ministry of Higher Education, 2010). As of now (2014), there are “25 major public universities, a large number of vocational institutes, and a growing number of private colleges” (Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington DC, 2014). The number of students enrolled in these institutions currently stands at about 1 million (Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington DC, 2014). In terms of student enrolment, the Ministry of Higher education (2011b) notes that there was a 124 per cent increase in the student enrolment at higher education institutions in the country between 1999 and 2010. Specifically, while the total number of students enrolled at higher education institutions in the country in 2000 was 404,094, it rose to 903,567 in 2010. Significantly, the number of women enrolled for higher education in KSA has been considerably higher than that of women. In essence, 178,099 men and 225,995 women were enrolled in 2000 compared to 429,842 men and 473,725 women in 2010. At the same time, there has been an increase in the number of newly admitted students, from 46,742 men and 62,307 women in 1999, to 164,787 men and 132,845 women in 2010. In terms of the age demographic, Saudi Arabia has also been shown to have a relatively high percentage of young people (in the age group of 19-23 years) in institutions of higher learning compared to other Arab countries. Along the same line, the number of faculty members has risen by 19 per cent from 18,925 in 1999 to 49,528 in 2010. There were 12,483 male members of faculty and 6,442 women working in the same capacity in 1999 compared to 31,439 and 18,089 male and female members of faculty respectively in 2010 (Ministry of Higher education, 2011b). 2.2.2.2 Overview of Current Studies about Higher Education in KSA Various authors have reviewed Saudi Arabia’s higher education by looking at the number of institutions of higher learning, number of students and their composition in terms of gender, number of members of faculty, as well as the general accessibility of higher education opportunities. Alamri (2011) reviewed the situation of Saudi Arabia higher education by analysing the growth in the number of universities, primary teachers’ colleges for men, primary teachers’ colleges for women, institutes and colleges of health and technical colleges. According to Alamri (2011) there were 23 public universities, 18 primary teachers for men, 80 primary teachers’ college, 37 institutes and colleges dealing with health, and 12 technical colleges at the time of doing the study. Given that the number of institutions of higher learning has risen further, it can be argued that more institutions of higher learning are continually being set up as is documented by the Ministry of Higher Education (2010, 2011b). In the same breadth, Al-Mubaraki (2011) argues that the growing global openness coupled with unlimited cross-border movement of global higher education is necessitating changes in countries such as Saudi Arabia. In particular, Al-Mubaraki (2011) posits that the yearning to move Saudi Arabian universities up the international status is causing the need to have national strategies and policies focused on reforming the extant higher education institutions and establishing new ones. This, according to Al-Mubaraki (2011), embodies a Saudi Arabian approach for attaining knowledge-oriented social and economic growth. Darandari and Cardew (2013) evaluate the developments in higher education in KSA by looking at a number of issues including student population, number of higher education institutions and the share of female students undertaking higher education. They argue that the student population and the number of universities and colleges have more than doubled over the last decade, and that the proportion of women involved in higher education has grown appreciably. This is noteworthy since a few years ago, women made up just 30 per cent of the student population in institutions of higher learning in Saudi Arabia (Cordesman, 2003), but today, they make up more than 50 per of the student total population (Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington DC, 2014; Ministry of Higher Education, 2011b). Darandari and Cardew (2013) also discuss the factors that they consider to have contributed to the developments in KSA’s higher education. The first factor is the increase in population and an increase in the social requirements for higher education. Second is changes initiated by the government in regard to student enrolment. Third is increased geographic variegation of the system of higher education as a strategy to ensure provision of equitable higher education to the population. Notably, strategies such as adoption of elearning are believed to be effective at reducing the barriers created by geographical isolation of some populations from major urban areas where universities and colleges are located, as well as those resulting from the separation of men’s and women’s classes (Alkhalaf et al., 2010). The other factors are a rise in the number of collaborations with global universities and the establishment of agencies to manage quality assurance practices countrywide (Darandari & Cardew, 2013). The last three factors are an embodiment of the mandate and role of the Ministry of Higher Education as a centralised authority charged with the duty of directing university education and ensuring coordination among universities, amongst other functions as discussed above based on points from (Alamri, 2011). Another remarkable issue that is related to the rise in the number of students enrolled at various institutions of higher learning in Saudi Arabia has been the rise in the number of faculty members. This has been attributed to increased investment of resources, especially in financial terms, to attract more people into the teaching of students in colleges and universities (Jamjoom & Kelly, 2013). As a result, according to Jamjoom and Kelly (2013), there has been a noteworthy increase of over 175 per cent in the overall number of members of faculty in the country since 1990. More importantly, during the same period, there has been a remarkable increase in the number of female faculty members, at 242 per cent compared an increase of 152 per cent for male faculty members. Based on these findings, Jamjoom and Kelly (2013) suggest that it is apparent that there is a rising opportunity for Saudi Arabian women to contribute in instruction delivery in higher education institutions. However, in spite of the possibility that this suggestion is arguably true, Jamjoom and Kelly (2013) also contend that the number of male members of faculty still remains nearly double that of their female counterparts. This view is confirmed by the statistics of members of faculty as presented by the Ministry of Higher Education (2011b), which were discussed earlier. 2.2.2.3 Overview of the Current Teaching and Learning Practices within Higher Education in KSA Historically, higher education in KSA universities has relied on “traditional didactic, lecture-based classrooms” (Alebaikan & Troudi 2010a, p. 508). However, since 2007, blended learning and elearning have become well established in KSA universities (Alebaikan, 2010). The current shift towards focusing on blended learning and elearning in Saudi Arabia’s institutions of higher learning stems from the sustained international criticism of the education system in the country, with the “major concern directed at the content of its curriculum and the didactic nature of its pedagogy” (Smith & Abouammoh, 2013, p. 6). In particular, the didactic lecture model, as is currently widely implemented in Saudi Arabia, in which the lecturer stands before a (generally large) class and delivers instruction, is deemed not to be geared towards ensuring active student participation in the knowledge delivery process (Juhary, 2010). In other words, didactic teaching is not student-centred (Almalki, 2011), and it can stifle “independent thought, creativity and deeper learning processes” of students (Juhary, 2010, p. 454). In spite of the criticisms of didactic teaching in higher education in KSA, Alebaikan and Troudi (2010b) note that “the traditional didactic, lecture-based classroom is the standard in Saudi public universities, with a few programmes implementing distance learning” (p. 52). However, the same authors also point out that “recently, some universities have started to undertake web-based instruction in their distance learning programmes” (p. 52). This suggests that didactic teaching is still used by many universities in Saudi Arabia, with new methods of web-based instruction being incorporated to a lesser extent and at different levels in different universities. In a review of the selection of faculty members and their evaluation and development of systems in higher education in KSA, Al-Ghamdi and Tight (2013) argue that in order to improve the value of higher education in the country, there is need to contemplate the professional requirements as well as the changing role of faculty and to engage in best practice systems of teaching and learning. However, the current teaching and learning practices within higher education face a number of challenges. These include lack of prescribed training of faculty staff for their teaching role, lack of motivations to perk up the quality of instruction, and the limiting scope of a stiff curriculum that does not adequately enhance the skills required for an information-based global environment (Smith & Abouammoh, 2013). Although Alebaikan (2010) argued that blended learning and elearning have become well established in universities in Saudi Arabia, this point is amenable to discussion. This is because of the counterargument offered by Alebaikan and Troudi (2010b) as indicated above and another by Al-Ismaiel (2013) that “in Saudi Arabia, online learning is still a relatively new concept in higher education” (p. i). Nevertheless, there is a general agreement that universities in Saudi Arabia are making attempts to use new technologies such as blended learning and learning to cater for the growing number of students and changing needs of the education system. Blended learning “refers to an integration of online activities and traditional face-to-face class activities” (Alebaikan & Troudi, 2010b, p. 50). Many universities in Saudi Arabia are adopting this approach since the Ministry of Higher Education has promoted the adoption of IT for teaching and learning among academic staff and students (Alebaikan & Troudi, 2010b). Hence, projects are continually created to offer sufficient information technology infrastructure and content development for students in institutions of higher learning (Alebaikan & Troudi, 2010b). This not only emphasises the historical role that has been played by the Ministry of Higher Education but also shows commitment to challenges that have existed both in the past and at present, such as increased student population, shortage of academic staff, limited teaching resources, the large size of the country and the geographic dispersal of populations, cultural issues such as reliance on traditional learning environments and separation of classes for men and women, and the need to make delivery of instruction more student-centred (Al-Ismaiel, 2013; Al-Sarrani, 2010). References Alamri, M. (2011). Higher Education in Saudi Arabia. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 11(4), 88-91. Alebaikan, R., & Troudi, S. (2010a).Online discussion in blended courses at Saudi Universities. Procedia Social and Behavioural Sciences, 2, 507-514. Alebaikan, R., & Troudi, S. (2010b). Blended learning in Saudi Universities: Challenges and perspectives. ALT-J, Research in Learning Technology, 18(1), 49-59. Alebaikan, R.A. (2010). Perceptions of blended learning in Saudi Universities. (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of Exeter, Exeter. Al-Ghamdi, S., & Tight, M. (2013). Selecting and developing high-quality academic staff. In L. Smith & A. Abouammoh (eds), Higher education in Saudi Arabia: Achievements, challenges and opportunities (pp. 83-93). New York: Springer Science + Business Media. Al-Ismaiel, O. A. (2013). Collaborative blended learning with higher education students in an Arabic context. PhD thesis. University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales. Almalki, A.M. (2011). Blended learning in higher education in Saudi Arabia: A study of Umm Al-Qura University. Unpublished PhD Thesis. School of Education College of Design and Social Context, RMIT University, Melbourne. Al-Mubaraki, A.A.S. (2011). National and global challenges to higher education in Saudi Arabia: Current development and future strategies. In S. Marginson, S. Kaur & E. Sawir (eds), Higher education in the Asia-Pacific: Strategic responses to globalization (pp. 413-428). New York: Springer Science + Business Media B.V. Al-Sarrani, N. (2010). Concerns and professional development needs of science faculty at Taibah University in adopting blended learning. Unpublished PhD thesis. Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas. Cordesman, A. H. (2003). Saudi Arabia enters the twenty-first century. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Darandari, E., & Cardew, P. (2013). Accreditation and quality assurance. In L. Smith & A. Abouammoh (eds), Higher education in Saudi Arabia: Achievements, challenges and opportunities (pp. 103-115).New York: Springer Science + Business Media. Jamjoom, F.B., & Kelly, P. (2013). Higher education for women in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In L. Smith & A. Abouammoh (eds), Higher education in Saudi Arabia: Achievements, challenges and opportunities (pp. 117-125).New York: Springer Science + Business Media. Juhary, J.B. (2010). A hybrid teaching and learning model. In M.D. Lytras, P.O. De Pablos, D. Avison, J. Sipior, Q. Jin, W. Leal, L. Uden, M. Thomas, S. Cervai & D. Horner (eds), Technology enhanced learning: Quality of teaching and educational reform (pp. 452-458). First International Conference, TECH-EDUCATION 2010, Athens, Greece, May 2010 Proceedings. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Ministry of Higher Education (2010). Ministry of Higher Education’s plan to achieve excellence in science and technology Riyadh. Riyadh: Ministry of Higher Education. Ministry of Higher Education (2011b). The current status of higher education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Riyadh: Ministry of Higher Education. Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington DC (2014). About Saudi Arabia: Higher education. Retrieved from http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/education/higher_education.aspx Smith, L., & Abouammoh, A. (2013). Higher education in Saudi Arabia: Reforms, challenges and priorities. In L. Smith & A. Abouammoh (eds), Higher education in Saudi Arabia: Achievements, challenges and opportunities (pp. 1-12).New York: Springer Science + Business Media. Read More