International Experience in Developing the Financial Resources of Universities by Abdulrahman Obaid AI-Youbi, Adnan Hamza Mohammad Zahed and Abdullah Atalar

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 King Abdulaziz University Approach
 to Develop Financial Resources
 Abdulrahman Obaid AI-Youbi
 and Adnan Hamza Mohammad Zahed

 1 Introduction
 Saudi universities have benefited a lot from the budgets pro-
vided by the government to universities in order to encourage
 education and spread it among the various groups of Saudi
 society. While many universities around the world depend, as
 part of their budget, on the university fees collected from
 students, in addition to the support provided by their gov-
ernments, the public universities in Saudi Arabia, since their
 establishment, provide education to their students free. Fur-
thermore, they give their students financial grants covering
 their personal expenses, based on the Kingdom of Saudi
 Arabia’s policy of building a welfare state for all members of
 society. In addition to supporting university education, the
 generous budget received by Saudi universities also supports
 graduate studies, scientific research, laboratory equipment,
 infrastructure preparation, and the construction of modern
 buildings through dedicated budgets. The Saudi education
 policies have served their purpose and paid off, as several
 Saudiuniversities have beenqualifiedtooccupydistinguished
 ranks in the international rankings of world universities,
 gaining popularity with each occupying a prominent position
 among their counterparts around the world.
 Beginning of planning for a promising future, the Saudi
 Vision 2030 is built around three main themes and based on
 three pillars, namely: (a vibrant society, a thriving economy
 and an ambitious nation); these pillars are complementary
 and consistent with each other in order to achieve the goals
 of the Vision and maximize the use of its foundations. In the
 pillar of (a thriving economy), the Saudi Vision focuses,
 among others, on diversifying the economy, allocating

 government services, achieving balance in the budget,
 diversifying and maximizing revenue sources, and managing
 the public budget in a rational manner, while committing to
 raising the efficiency of public expenditure, achieving effi-
ciency in the use of resources, reducing waste and increasing
 non-oil government revenues.
 Based on the Saudi Vision, various parties developed
 their visions, and the new Saudi universities by-law has been
 issued at the beginning of 2020. This by-law allowed uni-
versities to establish their own endowments, it also allowed
 the universities and their endowments to establish compa-
nies, participate in their establishment or join them as a
 partner or shareholder. The new Saudi universities by-law
 also specified the university's revenues from the state sub-
sidy; the cost of the study programs, diplomas, courses, and
 services provided; donations, gifts, grants, and wills, pro-
vided that their terms and purposes are consistent with the
 university’s mission; the return on its properties; the
 investment of university facilities; its own revenues and
 endowments; and the financial resources approved by the
 university’s board of trustees, which do not conflict with the
 university’s goals, vision, and mission. The new Saudi
 universities by-law also allows the university to charge tui-
tion fees for graduate studies programs; diploma and edu-
cational and training courses programs; tuition fees from
 non-Saudi students; as well as sums of money in exchange
 for scientific research or consulting services for internal or
 external parties; and sums of money in exchange for con-
tracting with other parties in both public and private sectors
 to provide the staff members that these parties need or to
 undertake studies, services and consultations.
 Asis well known, universities play a critical role in the life
 of nations at different stages of their economic and social
 development, as their contributions extended to include all
 aspects of scientific and technical life. This made interacting
 with society to discuss its needs and provide its requirements
 one of the most important duties of universities today. There
 is no doubt that one of the most important requirements of

 society is to reach high ranks in scientific research, to gain
 access to technology innovation, work to localize it, and
 increase social awareness. This can only be achieved through
 increasing funding to spend on education and scientific
 research. In the spirit of providing the necessary funding for
 conducting scientific research and revitalizing scientific
 research in basic and applied sciences. Saudi universities,
 through the new by-law, have achieved a large degree of
 independence allowing them to work on diversifying their
 sources of income. On these bases, King Abdulaziz Univer
sity, throughout its career, especially in the first two decades
 of the twenty-first century, has taken many steps that increase
 the sources of income and develop its financial resources. In
 this (first) chapter, King Abdulaziz University’s approach to
 developing its financial resources is presented.
 2 The Current Status of KAU, Its Financial
 Resources, and Its Need for Other
 Resources
 The number of students at KAU in the academic year of
 2019/2020 is (79,643) students, who all receive scholar
ships, and it employs about (19,000) male and female
 employees of both sexes, including (7569) faculty members
 and their assistants from the academic staff.
 KAU receives an annual budget of about (1.3) billion
 dollars from the government, while the university’sown

 income sources amount to (0.21) billion dollars, which
 is equivalent to 16% of the university's total budget. In
 addition to government funding, there are some resour
ces that the university has worked on to increase its
 budget, depending on its own potential. Figure 1 shows
 the resources of King Abdulaziz University’s s
 elf resources.
 3 Investment Management in KAU
 Investment units were established at KAU in the
 University Vice Presidency for Projects, Deanship of
 Student Affairs, and Contracts and Procurement Manage
ment at various times as needed. The Investment Man
agement was then established in 2017 to include all
 investment units, and to organize the investment of real
 estate and university facilities. The Investment Manage
ment aims at studying, increasing and developing invest
ment of real estate and university facilities in a way that
 contributes to increasing revenues and achieving financial
 self resources from the university’s properties, while
 raising the efficiency and improving the level of perfor
mance of the university’s investment projects; in addition
 to finding investment opportunities for university facilities
 for the private sector and contributing to improving the
 level of services provided by the university to the com
munity.

International Experience in Developing the Financial Resources of Universities by Abdulrahman Obaid AI-Youbi, Adnan Hamza Mohammad Zahed and Abdullah Atalar