WIDESPREAD feelings of joy and optimism are everywhere at Umm Al-Qura University (UQU) these days. The appointment of Dr. Waleed Abu Al-Faraj as the new UQU president is considered a vigorous boost for the improvement and development efforts in this university. Umm Al-Qura was the first higher education institution established in this country. It started with the College of Shariah (Islamic Law) in 1969. Since then the UQU pioneered the journey of intellectual renewal and became the desired distination for thousands of students to pursue higher education. Dr. Waleed Abu Al-Faraj seems to be the right choice for this position. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Nuclear Engineering from King Saud University in 1975 and then went on to the US as a sponsored student. In 1983, he earned a PhD in the same specialization from Iowa State University. Afterwards, he served as the dean of the college of engineering at King Abdul Aziz University for four years. Then, he served as deputy president for projects. Such experience and qualification make him the right choice for being UQU's president. I feel Dr. Abu Al-Faraj is a man of action. In his first comment, after he was appointed president, he mentioned that one of his main points of focus is to elevate Umm Al-Qura's ranking in the world. The UQU, along with other Saudi universities, is currently ranked very low in the Webometrics ranking of world universities. Many academics have called for the launch of a major process of restructuring of education in this country. Several ideas have been introduced to help achieve the goal of establishing quality higher education by which Saudi universities can be ranked higher in the future. Umm Al-Qura University's faculty, staff, and students are optimistic that the new leadership will work hard to make things better. UQU professors, for example, are in a desperate need to improve their current conditions. The new faculty bylaws that have been approved by the Council of Ministers have not been put into action yet at the UQU, particularly, the bylaws ordering the payment of a 25 percent of teaching allowance. Even though this allowance has been paid to professors in other universities, UQU professors are still waiting. In addition, the new bylaws ordered the payment of a 20-40 percent rare specialization allowance. The vast majority of college professors are not satisfied with the way the term ‘rare specializations' has been defined. Professors of English, for example, think their major is rare because they teach a foreign language in an environment that doesn't enhance such teaching or help students to practice the language they are learning. Professors of English, whose majors are mainly Linguistics, Literature, and Translation, think they deserve 40 percent salary bonus because those majors are certainly ‘rare.' Many UQU professors have a housing problem. Because there are no university housing compounds, the UQU has to rent buildings at different places to accommodate professors. The fast changing conditions of real estate in Makkah has led the owners of those buildings to terminate their contracts with the UQU and turn their buildings into pilgrims housing, as it is a more profitable investment. Many professors are finding themselves in an embarrassing situation because they have to leave their apartments very soon. Searching for a good quality apartment in Makkah is akin to searching for a needle in a stack of hay. Umm Al-Qura university staff and students have great expectations from Dr. Waleed Abu Al-Faraj. Most clerks at the UQU, for example, are in need of extensive training sessions in order to be qualified to handle everyday job requirements. Training sessions will be great motivation and learning for them. In addition, several, members of the staff complain their promotion is delayed by years which results in losing a lot of money. Consequently, regularizing the process of promotion is a vital step to improve work conditions on the campus. UQU students have multiple concerns as well. Many students and their families think the admission criteria is very complicated and end up not applying. Moreover, the current registration system doesn't help them take classes according to their study plans. The absence of good academic counseling is the main reason behind students spending more years in college. Basically, they don't know what courses to register for and when especially while switching majors. Restructuring the process of academic counseling is an indispensable step to help students overcome all difficulties they face during their college life. Umm Al-Qura University's community is not only happy but also optimistic that the new president will work hard to improve various aspects of this university. At the same time, UQU community is confident that the new president will boost reform and will be sensitive to the university's needs and desires. – SG Al-Qurashi is professor of Linguistics at the Umm Al
