King Abdulaziz University, founded in 1967 AD in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is a well-known government university. It recognised for its significant contributions to the region.
The university boasts over 22 colleges and 4,000 faculty members, offering numerous academic and research programmes across various fields.
Modern King Abdulaziz University Structures and Amenities
King Abdulaziz University is unique in that it has state-of-the-art buildings and facilities that support community, research, and educational activities and contribute to the university accomplishing its objectives and mission.
These structures and amenities that stand out the most are:
- University Campus: The university campus, spanning over 8 million square meters, is located in Jeddah. It has two separate campuses for male and female students, as well as more than 22 colleges, institutes, research and service centres, housing for male and female students and employees, mosques, restaurants, cafés, shops, banks, health centres, and other services.
- Laboratories: The university has over 300 specialised laboratories covering a range of media, creative, engineering, medical, and scientific disciplines. They have all the newest tools, software, hardware, and supplies needed for research, experiments, and hands-on projects. The personnel in the laboratories are qualified and experienced, and they can help and mentor students and researchers.
- Libraries: Every college and institute within the university has a sub-library in addition to the main library. Millions of books, journals, scientific theses, papers, manuscripts, and audiovisual materials in a variety of subject areas are contained in it. In addition to offering a variety of services, including borrowing, photography, translation, training, and consulting, it gives users access to local, international, and electronic databases. It possesses excellent technical and human resources.
King Abdulaziz University’s Specialities
King Abdulaziz University caters to the needs of both male and female students and helps to prepare them for the future by offering a wide range of specialisations in various scientific, literary, engineering, medical, media, and administrative fields.
The most notable of these specialisations are:
- Medical science and its applications, including human medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physical therapy, nursing, and clinical nutrition.
- Engineering and design: including mechanical, electrical, chemical, nuclear, petroleum, and industrial engineering as well as civil engineering.
- Sciences: including statistics, physics, chemistry, biology, biochemistry, and astronomy.
- Economics and administration, including political science, public administration, accounting, economics, and business administration.
- Communication and media: such as journalism, public relations, media, communication, design, directing, and marketing communication.
- Education: such as Islamic education, Arabic language, English language, art education, social sciences, and physical education.
- Arts and humanities: including European languages and literature, geography, history, sociology, information science, social work, Arabic language, and Islamic studies.
King Abdulaziz University Students’ Extracurricular and Training Activities
King Abdulaziz University provides its students with a variety of training courses and external programmes to provide them with the skills and experience needed to succeed in their professional and personal lives.
The most notable of these courses and programmes are:
- The Deanship of Community Service and Continuing Education offers free training courses in several subjects, including body language, international licences, English language proficiency, and persuasion techniques.
- The Deanship of E-Learning and Distance Education offers training programmes in areas like instructional design, educational technologies, and e-learning.
- The university offers specific diploma programmes in several fields, including professional visual communication, computer networks, public relations, and geographic information systems.
- Free online courses in health promotion are provided by the Health Promotion Centre; courses include topics like mental health.
King Abdulaziz University Awards and International Recognition
King Abdulaziz University’s numerous international honours and recognitions in a range of academic, scientific, and social domains attest to its esteemed standing on a global scale.
Among these honours, the most renowned ones are:
- The Excellence in University Performance Award is a university-sponsored recognition programme designed to encourage colleges and other educational institutions to adopt national and international quality and academic accreditation standards.
- Postgraduate Studies Awards: The Deanship of Postgraduate Studies gives these out to recognise and reward exceptional work by male and female students in the areas of publishing, research, and participation in scientific conferences and seminars.
- Knowledge Excellence Awards: In appreciation of colleagues’ achievements in science, research, and cognition, the university grants these awards to scholars, researchers, students, and faculty members.
Additionally, King Abdulaziz University achieved high rankings in other international rankings. For example, the Shanghai International Classification for the year 2021–2022 placed it first in the Arab world and among the top 150 universities worldwide. Similarly, the British QS classification index for the third consecutive year placed it first in the Arab world.
King Abdul Aziz University Admissions Requirements:
King Abdulaziz University has different admission requirements for different programmes and levels of study.
Generally speaking, candidates have to be Saudi citizens, daughters of Saudi women, or Kingdom citizens by permanent residence.
In addition, they need to have completed high school or its equivalent, with a minimum grade point average of 75% in science programmes and 65% in literature programmes.
They must have scored at least 50% on both the academic achievement and general aptitude examinations. They can’t be enrolled in any other courses or programmes. Furthermore, they must be available for full-time study, be in good health, and behave appropriately.
