Sultan Al-Sughair Saudi Gazette DAMMAM — The National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment held a preparatory meeting Monday at Dammam University, Monday to gear up for the third Quality International Conference in post-secondary education. The three-day conference beginning April 27, to be held in the presence of university president Dr. Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al-Rubaish and secretary general of the commission and chairman of the conference's organizing committee Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdul Karim Al-Muslim, is sponsored by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. Several international experts in the development and quality will be attending the conference. The conference aims to define and inform media representatives about the commission work and what has been achieved since it was founded in 2004 in regard to supporting post-secondary education institutions and working to raise the academic level of the Saudi public and private universities. Dr. Al-Muslim said the results of the commission's work will be reflected on the overall development process in the Kingdom. “Granting accreditation to post-secondary education institutions is done through two tracks: the first is the (institutional accreditation) which is applied through eleven standard for quality educational institution. “The second track addresses (programmatic accreditation), which concerned about the academic program in post-secondary education institutions through applying eleven standards for quality,” he said. Al-Muslim said that applying quality standards in Saudi universities and post-secondary education institutions will lead us to achieve scientific and academic renaissance that will show direct and indirect results on the country and the citizens. He said “reaching stages in educational quality is very important in supporting the national economy and providing the Saudi labor market with educated and skilled laborers.” The conference includes three work papers of Saudi specialists offering the experience of their respective institutions in quality field. Several presidents of Saudi universities will also be attending the conference.
