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KAU: First Public University in KSA that Graduates the First Group of FEMALE Engineers
As part of KAU's support to WOMEN from different aspects, KAU has been encouraging WOMEN to join subjects of study that no WOMAN in KSA has undergone before, especially in the higher education public sector. One mature fruit of these efforts was the graduation of the First Group of WOMEN Engineers in the country from KAU's electrical and industrial engineering programs. This event was significantly covered by the international media like "defence.pk" as well as the Saudi media like "Saudi Gazette" and "Eye of Riyadh" magazines, which wrote:
"On Monday, the 13th of March, 2017, King Abdulaziz University celebrated the graduation of its first batch of female electrical and industrial engineers.
Hanaa Al-Naeem, dean of KAU’s Women’s College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering, congratulated the graduates and their parents for the achievement. She said: “The university has produced a new generation of graduates and future creators during its graduation ceremony. The Women’s College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering gave women a chance to become pioneers in society. They will build society and break new grounds".
University Advising Unit for Preparatory Year FEMALE Students
The university counseling unit is a specialized unit to serve the student and support her in developing her skills, refining her abilities to adapt to life and the requirements of success, and helping her to find possible solutions to the problems she faces to achieve adaptation and psychological harmony.
Many of this unit's goals are to guide FEMALE students to studies that match their skills and in which they are under-represented.
We also can see in the last program "School Visits", how this unit also conduct outreach programs in coordination with other schools and NGOs.
Our goals:
Providing individual and group counseling services to help the university student achieve personal, social, family and academic compatibility.
Activating the development programs related to the personal, social, professional and psychological aspects of the university student.
Helping female students adjust to university life.
Supporting the student in developing her skills and refining her abilities to adapt to life in reducing stress, preventing disorders and dealing with them positively.
Spreading the cooperative culture through volunteer work and training and sponsoring preparatory year guides.
University Advising Unit Programs:
Individual and group counseling:
Helping students solve their psychological, academic and social problems by providing individual and group counseling.
Academic support and career counseling:
Providing support to students who are struggling or facing academic problems. Support is also provided by helping students choose the appropriate major.
Psychometric:
Insight into the problems faced by female students by applying psychological standards and developing solutions to them through a group of various measures in all cognitive and psychological fields.
My Skills Program:
Developing the life skills of preparatory year students through a series of training courses.
Entertainment routing:
Supporting students' educational and awareness ideas and initiatives directed at female students.
Preparatory Year Guides:
A program that seeks to communicate with the preparatory year student and help her to reconcile and succeed in her university life through university life guides.
School visits:
Working on introducing high school students to how to prepare for university life.
University collaborations & Outreach Programs
Empowering Saudi Women... Prospects and Challenges in Light of the Kingdom's Vision 2030
KAU initiated the important Women Empowering Conference, in March 2019, that has been held along with the participation of government and non-government organizations that are interested in empowering women in the Kingdom.
King Abdulaziz University, represented by “Prince Mishaal bin Majed bin Abdulaziz Center for Social and Human Research”, launched the “Saudi Women Empowering” initiative in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. The activities of the conference that was titled "Empowering Saudi Women... Prospects and Challenges in the Light of the Kingdom's Vision 2030" were held at the King Faisal Conference Center at KAU.
The director of the “Center for Social and Human Research” emphasized that the conference was inspired with its idea from what the Saudi society is witnessing regarding the comprehensive development changes in all fields, which made the rehabilitation and contribution of human elements, including women, an essential element for achieving the development process and its requirements. Noting that women in Saudi Arabia occupies a major attention in the Kingdom's Vision 2030, and enhancing their role and social position is important within the goals of this vision because they constitute more than 50% of the total number of university graduates, which necessitates the need to develop their talents and invest in their skills to enable them to obtain the appropriate opportunities to build their future and contribute to the development of the society and the national economy. The conference is considered as a national campaign for empowering women, with participants from other universities, government ministries, private sector, “Empowering Women” NGOs, etc., and shed the light on the subjects and areas in which the Saudi women are underrepresented.
The conference highlighted the efforts and experiences of some sectors of the state in order to empower women and enhance their role in community development, by presenting their issues and contributions with the participation of an elite group of specialists, focusing on the successes and gains achieved by Saudi women, and highlighting the challenges facing them, while submitting proposals to further empower Saudi women.
The conference had multiple themes which focused on WOMEN's Empowerment in under-represented areas like Governmental & Private Sectors, Higher Education, Legislative and Economic Sectors.
The Social Theme: It examines the position of women in international charters in accordance with the Kingdom's 2030 vision, and the efforts made to empower women at both the governmental and private levels, and includes:
Women in international covenants and the Kingdom's 2030 vision.
Ministry of Labor, Social Development and Women's Empowerment.
Strategies for empowering women in NGOs.
The Educational Theme: It deals with the role of education in empowering Saudi women, enabling them to participate in all institutions of society, as well as some of their achievements at the local and international levels, and includes:
Princess Noura University experience in empowering women.
Institutions of higher education and women's empowerment.
Women and Scientific Achievements- Women's Empowerment Initiative in the Health Field as an Example.
The Legislative Theme: This theme relates to legislation and regulations pertaining to women, their needs and requirements to complete the qualitative shift in women's empowerment, and includes:
The Shura Council's experience in empowering women.
Initiatives and regulations issued by the Ministry of Justice regarding women and the personal status system.
The Board of Grievances experience in empowering women.
The economic Theme: It addresses the means and mechanisms that help to raise the level of Saudi women's participation in economic development and the labor market, and includes:
The private sector and women's empowerment.
Self-employment and women's empowerment.
Foreign investment and women's empowerment.
Specialized Counseling Forum for General Education
Her Excellency the Vice President for the Female Section, Prof. Dr. Hana bint Abdullah Al-Naim, inaugurated the Specialized Counseling Forum for General Education organized by the Career Counseling and Career Support Center in cooperation with the Deanship of Student Affairs, at KAU, represented by the Vice Deanship for the Preparatory Year, University Counseling Center and the Deanship of Admission and Registration in Female section, in December 2019, at the King Faisal Conference Center, and the forum aimed to introduce students of the third grade of high school to the university and its various specializations and requirements.
The forum program included several introductory paragraphs about the admission mechanism at the university. The Vice Dean gave a motivational and guiding speech to the female students, in which she welcomed them and wished them success, during which she also mentioned that King Abdulaziz University was ranked first in the Arab world in the rankings and the pride of KAU as it competes with major universities worldwide, which is an achievement that everyone is entitled to be proud of and she talked about the specializations, and pointed out the importance of focusing also on personal skills to be compatible with the labor market, and noted the role of student activities in shaping their personality.
Sharakat Training Program
“Sharakat” is a training qualifying program for the KAU female graduates in cooperation with external pioneer institutions. The program is offered in coordination with specialized training bodies to provide intensive training programs aiming at promoting students’ capabilities towards a successful professional future.
Program Features
It provides KAU female graduates with the opportunity to develop their skills and prepare themselves to the labor market through recognized external training institutions.
It eases the availability of the training workshops from external bodies.
It provides trainees with accredited international certificates.
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