Deputy Minister of Education Faisal Bin Muammar announced Tuesday that 92 percent of pupils passed this year's high school final exams, and that girls passed at a slightly higher rate than boys. Bin Muammar said 331,849 of 360,766 pupils – 91.3 percent of boys and 92.8 percent of girls – have passed the exams, and that the results were made available more quickly than in previous years. “The ministry managed to process, review and announce the results for universities five days earlier than scheduled,” he said during a press conference here. “The results came out one week after the examinations finished, which is a record for the ministry. The average period for processing and announcing the results is one month after the examinations.” He said the ministry has established a central system to process and issue results and noted that the new system gives the ministry the ability to prepare a database for use by universities, civil and military colleges, the Civil Service, Saudi Aramco and Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). Bin Muammar said 134,550 students took science exams and 125,466 passed, a pass rate of 93.2 percent. Girl science students in Saudi schools outside the Kingdom numbered 104 with only one student failing. Also, male science students abroad numbered 129 with 126 of them passing their exams. Addressing male students' results, Bin Muammar said 86.6 percent of administration pupils, 1,528 out of 1,765, passed the exams. Among pupils studying Shariah and Arabic Studies, 87 percent – 51,885 of 59,648 – have passed. Saudi Gazette reported Saturday Minister of Higher Education Dr. Khaled Bin Muhammad Al-Anqari as saying that Saudi universities will admit about 90 percent of this year's male and female high school graduates. He said there are 278,000 seats in 24 Saudi universities for the academic year 2010-11 (1431-32H) in the three tracks – regular, part-time and parallel-education students – a 12-percent increase over the previous academic year, pointing out that private universities and colleges would provide 15,000 additional seats. He said the numbers do not include seats available in other post-secondary education tracks including colleges and colleges of technology belonging to the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, Institute of Public Administration, university colleges in Jubail and Yanbu and admissions in the military sector. All post-secondary education institutions are well prepared to accept all high school graduates this year, he added. Al-Anqari said procedures for assigning students among specializations and university faculties is subject to criteria approved by university councils. He said experience in many countries has proved the importance of these criteria and the need to comply with them. The universities' criteria and capacities are such that every student may not get their first choice, Al-Anqari said. “It is not always possible to admit the students to the specializations of their choice because the capacity of each faculty is limited and cannot be exceeded,” he said. “In addition, some faculties require high standards in scientific fields and this must be followed.” Al-Anqari pointed out that there is a wide choice for every student because seats are available in alternative specializations and in universities throughout the Kingdom. He said the ministry is keen to link admission capacities with specializations needed by society and the labor market.
