A proposal by the Dean of Admissions at Umm Al-Qura University suggesting that 60 percent of university seats be reserved for students living in Makkah met with heavy criticism before being rejected by the university's advisory council. The council which comprises more than 30 deans of the university described the suggestion as “discriminative”. The Dean of Admissions, Dr. Waleed Altaf, said that this was an “unrealistic description” of his proposal and it “does not mean factionalism as some people interpreted it”. The council meeting witnessed loud arguments between those in support of the proposal and those in opposition. Dr. Altaf said the proposal was based on previous experience and is “in the interest of the students and the university itself,” as the absence of university students during the seasons of Haj and Umra is the “inevitable result of the unlimited admission of students to the university despite the various alternatives available to them in other universities in the Kingdom”. During the the Haj and Umra seasons, he said, the problems of housing increase and students from outside Makkah find themselves homeless and forced to miss classes. Therefore, designating a proportion of university seats only for the admission of students resident in Makkah and neighboring areas would ensure that Umm Al-Qura students had an adequate educational environment. Other students are able to find seats in their regions, especially after the expansion of Saudi universities that the Kingdom has witnessed in recent years, he said. “It was just a suggestion that was not successful. It does not mean that I am on the side of one segment of students at the expense of the other,” he added. Meanwhile, the university announced that it will start receiving applications for admission on its website, and that it has decided to admit 15,000 male and female secondary school graduates this year.
