Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman issues order to reconstitute the board of directors of King Saud University

Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman has issued an order to reconstitute the board of directors of King Saud University. The order was based on a royal decree to convert the university into an independent, non-profit academic institution, under the umbrella of RCRC, and that is in line with a recommendation of the Crown Prince.

Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, who also serves as chairman of the board of directors of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC), signed an order on Tuesday reconstituting the board of directors of Riyadh's King Saud University (KSU). The order was based on a royal decree to turn the university into an autonomous, non-profit academic institution under the umbrella of RCRC, in accordance with the Crown Prince's request.

The board of directors of the institution will be led by Minister of Education Yousef Al-Benyan, with Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Eng. Ahmed Al-Rajhi serving as vice chairman.

The members of the board include minister of communications and information technology; minister of transport and logistics; minister of industry and mineral resources; president of the University; president of the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence; Fahd Al-Rasheed; CEO of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center; governor of the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monsha’at); CEO of the Riyadh Non-Profit Foundation; president of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; CEO of the Saudi Tourism Authority; chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Saudi Chambers; representative of the Public Investment Fund; Salman Al-Sudairi; Tal Nazer, and Jomana Al-Rashed.

Al-Benyan welcomed the Saudi leadership's support for university education. He also emphasised the board's determination to accomplish a quantum leap in the university's march towards empowerment, excellence, and quality, as well as to enhance the educational and research processes in accordance with the Kingdom's Vision 2030.

Eng. Ibrahim Al-Sultan, interim CEO of RCRC, lauded the leadership's concern for the education sector in Saudi Arabia and the development of national cadres. He also emphasised the Crown Prince's ambition of converting the university into an autonomous, non-profit academic institution as a crucial facilitator of the university's objective of being one of the world's leading institutions by 2030.

The Crown Prince's vision also includes the university's support for the transformation journey, which will contribute to improving the quality of education and its outputs, as well as attracting talents, competencies, and the brightest minds, and preparing a generation with the highest skills to meet the needs of the twenty-first century. This is also to guarantee that its outputs are linked with the Kingdom's objectives, which will lead to the capital being one of the world's major city economies.