Сауд Арабиясының король Сауд университеті

Public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

King Saud University (KSU, جامعة الملك سعود) is a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdulalziz to address the country's skilled worker shortage, it is the first university in Saudi Arabia. It was known as Riyadh University from 1964 until it was reverted to its inceptive name in 1982. It was converted into an independent non profit academic institution in 2023. The student body of KSU today consists of 40,000 male and female students, 7% of which are international. The female students have their own disciplinary panel, and there is a center supervising the progress of female students, either personally by female faculty members or by male faculty members via a closed television network. The university offers courses in the natural sciences, the humanities, and professional studies, and many courses are tuition free. The medium of instruction in undergraduate programs is English and Arabic depending on the chosen major. Among Arab universities, its medical programs are highly regarded.

Establishing Saudi Arabia's first university was a response to the educational and professional needs of a young nation. King Abdulaziz became king in 1932, and began laying the foundations for modernizing his country and establishing an educational system. In 1953 King Saud, the eldest son of Abdulaziz, acceded to the throne upon his father's death, and instituted the Council of Ministers and the Ministry Education. Prince Fahd, who eventually became the Saudi king, was the first minister of education. Following the first session of the Council of Ministers, he announced that the first Saudi university would be established as a house of culture and sciences. Prince Fahd said that he was committed to promoting higher education. In 1957, according to the dictates of the Royal Decree No. 17, Prince Fahd announced the founding of King Saud University, established to "Disseminate and promote knowledge in Our Kingdom for widening the base of scientific and literary study, and for keeping abreast with other nations in the arts and sciences and for contributing with them discovery and invention, in addition to reviving Islamic civilization and articulate its benefits and glories, along with its ambitions to nurture the young virtuously and to guarantee their healthy minds and ethics." Students began studying at the College of Arts in the 1957–58 academic year. Since then KSU developed further according to the needs of the nation. Between 1958 and 1960 the College of Sciences, the College of Business (now the College of Public Administration) and the College of Pharmacy were established. Royal Decree no. 112 of 1961 recognized that King Saud University was an independent legal entity, with a budget of its own, responsible for higher education, promoting scholarly research, and advancement of sciences and arts in the country. Naming the minister of education as the president of the university, the statute ordered that the university have a vice president and secretary general, and that each college and institute have a dean, vice dean, and a council. In 1965 the College of Agriculture was established and KSU assumed control over the Colleges of Engineering and Education, formerly under the Ministry of Education in cooperation with UNESCO.

Royal Decree no. M/11 of 1967 enforced the Statute of the University of Riyadh (currently King Saud University), rescinding all earlier statutes, bylaws, and regulations. Of the main landmarks of the new statute is the creation of the Higher Council of the university as one of its administrative powers. The membership of the new council includes two active or inactive university presidents, two faculty members who had assumed such positions outside the country, or two native leading intellectuals. The Higher Council of the university is the dominant power over the university affairs: it draws out policies, issues decisions to implement and achieve the objectives of the university (especially those pertaining to the creation of new colleges and departments), proposes budgets, and systems of faculty salaries, annuities, and financial awards. Royal Decree no M/6 of 1972 superseded the statute of 1967. With the new statute, the membership of the Higher Council of the university includes five active or inactive university presidents, or native leading intellectuals. To the council are also added the university secretary general and two other non university members. Again, the statute dictates the creation of an Academic Council overlooking scholarly research and studies. The Higher Council of the university issues the bylaws governing the number of the Academic Council's members, responsibilities, and powers. These decrees were issued in response to the growing and widening needs of the university as the establishment of new colleges started. Between 1958 and 1960, three colleges were established: the College of Sciences, College of Business (now the College of Public Administration) and the College of Pharmacy. In 1961/1962 women were first admitted into the College of Arts and the College of Public Administration. Five years later the College of Agriculture was established. In the same year the College of Engineering and College of Education, having been under the Ministry of Education in cooperation with the UNESCO, were annexed to the university. A year later (1969/1970) the College of Medicine opened. In 1974/1975 the Arabic Language Institute was inaugurated to serve non Arabic speakers. At this time deanships of Admission and Registration, Students Affairs, Libraries were also established. Again, a year later (1976) the College of Dentistry and the College of Applied Medical Sciences were added to the Riyadh campus, while launching at the same time the Abha based campus with the College of Education. In 1977, the Graduate College assumed its office in supervising and organizing all graduate programs in the various departments of the university. At Abha, the College of Medicine was established according to Royal Order no. 3/M/380 of 1979 and was added to the university according to Royal Directive no. 15128 of 29 June 1400H. Formal study there started in the academic year of 1980/1981. In 1980 another branch of the university opened at Qassim with three colleges: Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine, and Economics and Administration. Formal study started in 1980/1981 academic year.

The school's current main campus was designed by HOK Architects, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Mechanical and Electrical systems were designed by Syska Hennessy Group, Inc. New York City, New York. The facility was constructed in the 1980s by Blount International, a construction firm led by Winton M. Blount headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, after the firm was awarded the world's then largest fixed price contract in history for the sum of approximately $5 billion.

In 1982, a dedicated university hospital was opened and was named King Khalid University Hospital. This facility is an 850 bed facility with all general and subspecialty medical services. It contains a special outpatient building, more than 20 operating rooms, and a fully equipped and staffed laboratory, radiology, and pharmacy services in addition to all other supporting services. The hospital provides primary and secondary care services for Saudi patients from Northern Riyadh area. It also provides tertiary care services to all Saudi citizens on referral bases. All care is free of charge for all King Saud University staff and students.

In 1982, Dr. Basil Al Bayati won the 1st prize in the King Saud Competition to build the main mosque for the university. His design incorporated extensively the motif of the palm trunk, as used in the very first Mosque of the Prophet in Medina. It was highly praised and was even claimed to "mark the beginning of a new era, a new revival in Islamic architecture." The interior calligraphy above the doors and in the mihrab was done by Ghani Alani, the last of the Baghdad School of Calligraphy. He was a student of Hashem al Khattat. Ghani Alani taught Dr. Bayati whilst at the College of Engineering in Baghdad. The building was also nominated for the 1992 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

As well as designing the mosque, Basil Al Bayati also designed the entrance gates to the university which are based upon the theme of faith and knowledge; two pillars of Islam that must be taken together, "Knowledge cannot do without faith nor can faith ignore knowledge for Islam calls always for faith and knowledge to run in parallel." "The design consists of two books representing knowledge and faith. They have been so placed so that their pages are interlocked thus showing the close connection between faith and knowledge. Verses from the Quran on faith and knowledge are written in script on the cover of each book."

The university offers a broad range of undergraduate courses in the natural sciences, the social sciences, the humanities and professional studies. Tuition is completely free and generous scholarships are available for Saudi and international students. The medium of instruction in undergraduate programs is English and Arabic. Applicants are required to pass an Arabic examination if they are from a non Arabic speaking country. English language support at all levels is provided by the Languages Unit.

This college was initially established as a department in the College of Engineering in 1968. It was extended as a college in 1984 to include the department of "Urban Planning".

The College of Pharmacy was established in 1959, with a stated mission of "high quality instruction and research" and currently has numerous teaching and research centers. There are five academic departments: Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy and Clinical Pharmacy. The college offers a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm. D) program as a six year program undergraduate entry level program with a final year of internship. The college also offers many graduate programs Masters (MSc) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), along with many postgraduate programs including Residencies and Fellowships.

In 2014 a female student died on campus after a cardiac arrest. The Saudi news outlet Okaz claimed that male paramedics were blocked from entering the women's part of the campus, for more than an hour, resulting in her death, causing outrage on campus and on social media. Badran Al Omar, the University Rector, stated that paramedics were allowed in the premises on arrival, and the patient received the best of care but could not be revived. She was taken to a local hospital, stretching the total time of intervention to almost two hours.