King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

History

KFUPM was established on 23 September 1963 by a Saudi royal decree as the College of Petroleum and Minerals providing high-level education about petroleum and minerals, two of the most-valuable natural resources in Saudi Arabia. It was elevated to university status in 1975. It was renamed after King Fahd in 1986.

Academics

The medium of instruction in KFUPM is English. However, courses on Islamic studies and Arabic language are taught in Arabic. University offers degrees of Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Master of Engineering and Doctor of Philosophy. The grading system is the standard 0 to 4.0 scale with classes of:

Admissions

With an acceptance rate of only 10%, it is the most selective in Saudi Arabia. The university's admission policy applies certain criteria to ensure admissions of the most promising students. In 2012, the university accepted the best 2% of high school graduates from all over the Kingdom. comprising 20% for the high school certificate, 30% for the general capabilities test (similar to SAT), and 50% for the collective test performances (test of high school's maths, physics, chemistry and Biology). Both the general capabilities test and the collective test are constructed by Qiyas.

Rankings

KFUPM was named the top university in the Arab Region as per QS University Rankings for 2015 and 2016. KFUPM was ranked 18 among "QS Top 50 Under 50". The QS Top 50 Under 50 is a new ranking that lists the leading universities worldwide founded since 1962. Also, it was ranked as one of the best 400 universities around the world according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities ARWU in 2011 and 2012 by Shanghai Jiaotong University. In 2012, the ARWU ranked the Mathematics subject in top 50 worldwide. In the academic year 2013-2014, it was awarded the 216th position in the QS World University Rankings.

Accreditation

All programs of the engineering colleges were evaluated for "Substantial-Equivalency" recognition by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). They were found substantially equivalent to similar accredited programs in the U.S. The Master of Business Administration offered by the University is accredited by Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

Other academic departments

Rector

The current Rector of KFUPM is Khaled S. Al-Sultan.

Previous rectors of KFUPM

International Advisory Board

King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals organized the International Advisory Board (IAB) in March 2007. The IAB is composed of senior academic and corporate executives.

Dhahran Techno-Valley

Dhahran Techno-Valley, established in 2006, is designed to gather national and international research centers in one location. It is intended that services plus recreational activities will add to the vibrancy and networking among tenants in the Valley Community. Other leading technological and scientific institutions in the area will also be fully used. The Techno-Valley consist of five entities at the KFUPM Dhahran campus: King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Science Park, The Innovation Center, Consulting Services Center, Technology Business Incubator, and Liaison Office. The valley includes a sixth entity of Sultan bin Abdulaziz Science and Technology Center (SciTech), located on the shores of the Persian Gulf at nearby Al-Khobar city.

King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Science Park

Generally referred to as the KASP, the science park was established in 2002 and is located on a 35-hectare site north of the KFUPM campus. The park is closely integrated with the university. With its proximity to the science and engineering colleges, KASP provides interaction between tenant firms and their personnel and university scientists and engineers. At present, Schlumberger, Ciba, Yokogawa, Honeywell, UOP, Baker Hughes and JCCP have joined the park.

Consulting Services Center

The Consulting Services Center facilitate the consulting services for the university faculty to serve the industrial community in Saudi Arabia which contributes to their professional development and helps the outside community to resolve problems that require high intellectual and technological background. It is hoped that such interaction contributes to the professional development of the faculty members and to the university by providing practical applications and state-of-the art course content. The interaction would improve quality of research and design projects and would provide more training and employment opportunities for students.

Technology Business Incubator

The Technology Business Incubator provides a set of logistical, strategic, and operational support for start-up Saudi technology companies and entrepreneurs to help increasing success of their companies.

Liaison office

The mission of the Liaison Office is to facilitate and promote the University capabilities, expertise and services to the local industries and to be the focal point of contact with the industry/business.

Sultan bin AbdulAziz Science & Technology Center (SciTech)

The center is at the corniche of nearby Khobar city on 21,700 m². The buildings area is 14,100 m². It consists of seven main show halls, dealing with different sciences and technologies. There are more than 350 scientific exhibited pieces and the IMAX scientific dome (the only IMAX theater in Saudi Arabia), the Astronomic Observatory, Educational Unit, Conference Hall, Temporary Exhibitions Hall and Administrative and Services Facilities. The center aims to cultivate the individuals of the Saudi society, especially teenagers, to let them know more about the principles of science, their application, and explanation; it simplifies them by presenting them in an interactive and interesting style, depending on education through entertainment/education through experiment and observation.

The Research Institute (RI)

Research at the university can be classified into personal, sponsored, and client-funded. The mission of the RI is to serve the nation by conducting client-driven research and development using university resources. Among its objectives are to serve the nation as a professional problem solver; adapt imported technologies to the Saudi environment; serve the needs of government organizations, local industry, and businesses for research and development; develop local expertise; support graduate and undergraduate programs at KFUPM; and contribute to the high-quality education and training of students.

The technical expertise for applied research available in the RI is focused in its seven centers with their sections/labs.

The manpower of the RI as of 1 January 2005 was 258 full-time employees, of whom 53 held PhD degrees, 64 held MS degrees, 50 held BS degrees, and 91 held other credentials. Project teams are typically formed of 35% full-time RI researchers, 25% faculty members, 10% students, and 30% support staff.

Library

The library, centrally located in Building 8 and a short walk from most classrooms and laboratories, has an available floor space of nearly 7,000 square meters. It is an "open-stack" library, allowing users free access to its resources. Reading areas are on the first, third, and fourth floors.

The current collection of books and bound periodicals totals over 328,000 volumes, 32% in science, 21% in engineering, 24% in humanities, and 23% in social sciences. It has over 23,000 volumes in Arabic and over 300,000 volumes in English and subscribes to approximately 1,500 periodicals. In addition, there are some 490,000 research reports on microfiche and 63,000 documents in other media, including more than 25,000 educational films and 38,000 reels of journal back issues on microfilm. Audiovisual materials are provided through a well-equipped audio-visual (AV) department with a collection consisting principally of motion pictures, filmstrips, videotapes, and audio cassettes. These AV materials can be used in the library auditorium which is also used for seminars, lectures, short courses, theses defense, and other presentations.

Collaborations

KFUPM Endowment

It was announced in 2007 that the University will establish an independent administrative body tasked with managing and overseeing donations and the University's industry collaboration activities. The Endowment Fund Office is composed of an independent governing board, with a professional staff that manages the Fund's operations, resembling those of Harvard Investment Group and the Yale Investment Office. The KFUPM Fund is the first in Saudi Arabia to be professionally managed by specialized finance and investment teams. The mission of the Fund is to be able to provide the necessary financing (up to 30%) the University needs in the future, and cover costs that aren't sponsored by the University's main funds source, The Ministry of Education. In just over five years, the Endowment has grown to be the largest university endowment in Saudi Arabia (relative to the size of KFUPM budget) and was able to raise more than $500 million in financial assets along with real estate assets. The Endowment's main investment projects include the establishment of a business park in the north side of the KFUPM campus that includes constructing numerous hotels and office buildings. The University has contracted the UK-based Marts & Lundy to consult on fundraising and managing activities. The Fund's main financing activities include the establishment of specific-purpose research grants and projects. In addition, the Endowment has announced the creation of 8 doctoral fellowships (the first of its kind in the kingdom that is unrelated to governmental constraints in terms of funding).

Government and public service

Academics

Oil and gas industry

Sports and media

Others