King Saud University and the Research Activity

By Prof Dr. Abdullah Al-Shaalan 

      Enormous amounts of money are spent on the research activities run by the major states and the big-scale corporations. Comparing the scientific research process in the kingdom to other countries, a differentiation between the developed and developing countries should be made.

      At the level of the developing countries, the kingdom has all potentials to support the scientific research. Comparing the researches run in the KSA to those run in the developing countries, the result is that the KSA-run researches outweigh others in the developing countries. But when comparing them with those in the developed countries, a big difference is sensed. This is maybe because big companies finance the major part of researches. 

      The university has witnessed a tangible research activity: research chairs, visiting professors and new budgets for researches. A question rises: why researches are run by the universities and the ministry of higher education, not by big corporations? We rarely hear about contributions by businesspersons, industrial companies, or tycoons, despite that their contribution beefs industry up and raises the standard of the community.  

      On behalf of all researchers and those who care about the research activities, a number of proposals are submitted. They are as follows: 

      1. Inquiring about the nature of researches conducted;

      2. Exhorting big corporations and businesspersons to support the scientific research; 

      3. Running coordination to follow up the various scientific researches and not to be put aside.