Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah signed Saturday a contract to build 45 buildings with 1,350 housing units for its academic staff. The contract was signed by Bakri Assas, acting president of the university. The new housing complex will include mosques, schools, parks and shopping centers. The project will be financed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Assas said. Meanwhile, the university is now moving towards an electronic system to create an e-university for all its academic and service transactions with students and staff, Assas said after watching a presentation by the electronic solutions company Holool (Arabic word for Solutions). The university will have 140 professors when its students on scholarships return from Australia soon. A team from the university recently visited Australia to check on the progress of the 140 students, 70 males and 70 females who are doing their Master's and Ph.Ds at Australian universities. The team participated in the Saudi Career Day Expo in Australia, which was inaugurated by Khaled Al-Anqari, Minister of Higher Education.
