The Department of Computer Science was established in 1404/05 H. Since its establishment the department has grown from a small unit of a handful of teachers and students into a strong department  of 16 full-time faculty members, 4 lecturers and 4 teaching assistants. Presently, there is a large number of students enrolled in the BSc. computer science program and a substantial number of students in the MSc. computer science program. In this respect, the Computer Science department is the largest department in the College of Computer and Information Sciences.

The department offers a strong BSc. program and a thesis oriented MSc. program. If needed, the department also renders services to other departments of the college as well as to other colleges. The department is successfully fulfilling its role of supplying the market with prospective specialists, appropriately trained, and suitably equipped to tackle complex problems in the area of computer science.

The major research areas of faculty members are: Networking, Software Engineering, Databases, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Graphics, Arabization, Operating Systems, Real Time Systems, Distributed Systems, Pattern Recognition, Neural Networks, and Computer-Human Interactions.

The department has set up excellent computing facilities supported by a networked UNIX platform: SUN Server 690MP(soon to be upgraded to a SUN Enterprise 3000) , UNISYS 7000P Server as well as SUN workstations. 
   
The department has also set up several laboratories equipped with powerful, networked PC-based workstations.

Finally, the department is connected to the university main Data Processing Center (Sun ES5000) through which it has access to the Internet.

As a support to its teaching programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the department has access to the university central library that caries large volumes of books and up-to-date research journals. In addition to this, the department uses the library facilities of the College Research Center as well as the CD-ROM based on-line IEEE INSPECT library.

The department has contributed to a good degree to the assimilation and dissemination of knowledge in Computer Science in the Saudi society and has represented the University in many local and international conferences.

Recently, the Computer Science Department has undertaken to bridge the gap between the university and the local industry. A way to lay down and consolidate the university-industry link was to define an "Application-oriented Master Program" in computer science that is tailored according to the industry needs.
    
Such a program would open a door for professionals to acquire and/or enhance their knowledge at any moment in their careers. It will also force the department remain continuously informed of the industry changes and needs. The presentation of this new application-oriented MS program is the object of the present report.