Saudi Arabia
Umm al-Qura University
Umm al-Qura University
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
Umm al-Qura University (UQU; Arabic: جامعة أم القرى, romanized: Jāmiʿah ʾUmm al-Qurā, lit. 'Mother of All Villages') is a public university in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The university was established as the College of Sharia (Islamic law) in 1949 during the reign of King Abdulaziz ibn Saud before being joined by new colleges and renamed as Umm al-Qura through a royal decree in 1981.
UQU started primarily as an Islamic university offering degrees in Islamic Law, Theology and Arabic language studies. It now offers more courses in such diverse subjects as Technology Management, Business Management, Islamic Economics, Marketing, Engineering, Technology, Medicine, Education, Architecture, as well various Applied, Social and Engineering Sciences. In 2015, the UQU annual budget hovered around SR 3 billion (US$801,399,900).
College of Shari`ah (Law and Islamic Studies)
The College of Shari`ah (Law and Islamic Studies) was established in 1369 A.H. It was the first college and foundation of the university. Four additional colleges were later founded out of this college, namely:
The College of Da'wah 'Islamic Call' and Fundamentals of Religion was established on 21/12/1401 A.H (20 October 1981).
By the beginning of the academic year 1402/1403 A.H (1982-1983), this College started to offer courses and it included four departments for both male and female students, However, by the academic year 1404/1405 A.H (1984-1985), the Department of the Qur'an and Sunnah was inaugurated by virtue of resolution No. 30/4/16/6827/1, issued on 22/07/1404 A.H (23 April 1984), according to the resolution of university's high council during its second session dated 25/06/1404 A.H (28 March 1984), which required moving the Department of the Qur'an and Sunnah from the College of Shari`ah (Islamic Law) to the College of Da'wah and Usul-ud-Din (Call to Islam and Religion's Fundamentals).
The College has four departments:
4- Department of Qera'at (various readings of the Qur'an).
The postgraduate studies in the specializations of the college started since it was supervised by the College of Shari`ah, before their separation took effect. In 1420 A.H (1999), the deputy deanship of the College of Da'wa and Usul-ud-Din for postgraduate studies was established as it started to supervise the postgraduate studies in the college.
College of Arabic Language
The Department of Arabic was established in 1962 as an independent department at the College of Education before it was joined to the College of Shari`ah in 1965. Graduate Studies were introduced to the department in 1973 and the College of Arabic Language was created by a royal decree in 1981.
The College includes the following departments:
1. Department of Arabic Linguistics, Grammar and Morphology.
2. Department of Classical Arabic Rhetoric and Literary Criticism.
3. Department of Literature.
The College offers the Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.D. Degrees in all the above-mentioned disciplines, except for the Department of the Languages of Islamic Societies which offers the Bachelors degree only.
Over the last years, Umm Al-Qura university has secured its place among the top 500 universities in the world (QS)
The latest rankings are as follows:
QS World University Rankings: 447 (2022)
Times Higher Education World University Rankings: 601-800 (2022)
All programs in all the engineering-related 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 US and elsewhere.
In May 2014, all Business and Management degree programs offered by the College of Business (CoB) are formally declared Eligible for Accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The CoB is an academic member of AACSB International and EFMD Global. Nevertheless, with an unfortunate change of CoB leadership and departure of a key professor and leader of these accreditation efforts, these efforts were brought to a screeching stop by the then new-dean Sultan Albogami. With the appointment of a new dean, Ehsan Al-Mua'taz, these efforts towards development and improvement may start again.
As of Sept. 2015, all Medical, Dentistry, Nursing, and Pharmacy related academic programs are globally accredited by accrediting bodies in North America and/or European Union.
In addition to these global accreditations, the university is fully accredited by the National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment (NCAAA) of Saudi Arabia.
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Улс: Saudi Arabia