SAUDI ARABIA: Research chairs boost knowledge economy

18 July 2010

Saudi universities have established more than 200 research chairs with the support of individuals and private organizations as part of efforts to transform the Kingdom into a knowledge economy, writes PK Abdul Ghafour for Arab News.

Higher Education Minister Khaled Al-Anqari has reiterated Saudi Arabia's commitment to become a knowledge-based economy. "It's a choice that no country wanting to make progress can ignore," he said. Spelling out other measures taken by the government in this direction, Al-Anqari said: "We have increased the number of public and private universities, focused on scientific research and established new research centers and technological parks."

The research chairs focused on social, economic, medical and industrial topics in order to produce scientific solutions to the various problems facing the country, according to a report. There are research chairs in most of the Kingdom's 24 government universities, supervised by well-known researchers and scientists.
Full report on the Arab News site

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