Saudi Gazette report

DHAHRAN — Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, minister of energy and chairman of the Board of Trustees of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), attended on Sunday the university’s celebration of the enrollment of the first batch of female students for bachelor’s degree courses.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that the Kingdom is going through a major series of transformations, including Vision 2030, which encompasses all economic and social realms. “We have begun to reap the fruits of Vision 2030 on the ground under the efficient leadership as initiatives go on transforming plans into visual achievements,” he said.

“I ask myself and I ask those who hear me: Who enabled us to meet on this occasion in this place at this time? It is none other than the Vision, which is the will. It wanted change; it addressed contradictions and triumphed over hesitation while preserving the fundamentals of the state and the identity of the society,” he said.

Going down memory lane of his student days, Prince Abdulaziz, who is an old student of the university, said: “In this university, I spent the most beautiful days of my youth as I knew its corridors, halls, and hostel rooms, and today, as I am proud of being one of its graduates, I envy you the young men and women who are creating a more beautiful and shining future for our country.

“It is not an educational university, it is a community university that embraces the diversity of all the local cultures in our country.”

“I saw examples of it a while ago everywhere. How many thousand engineers did this university produce? How many thousand experts did this university produce? A day will come after us and someone will come from here and say how many female engineers this university has produced?

“And how many female experts has this university produced? How big was the magnitude of their participation in the development and diversification of our economy? How much they have reached in setting an example for others who will come after them? This is the continuum,” he added.

For the first time in its history, KFUPM had opened its doors to women students to pursue bachelor’s degree courses from the beginning of the new academic year. The decision for women’s enrollment was taken as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which seeks to empower women and qualify them in all specializations.

Earlier in 2018, the university senate decided to accept enrollment of women students in post-graduate studies. Accordingly, in September 2019, the university started enrollment of female students for the postgraduate courses and PhD degrees in five subjects — mathematics, statistics, computer engineering and sciences, public administration and engineering management.

More than 33,000 students have so far graduated from the university, which has eight colleges. KFUPM is the first higher education institution in the Kingdom for teaching science and technology.