TECHNICAL COLLEGES
Cybersecurity and AI are major focuses and areas of concern for Saudi leaders. UPM and AEC are teaching the next generation of Saudi professionals to fill the jobs of the future.
How do your schools fit in the educational landscape of the Kingdom?
KEN HAWICK We sit halfway between universities and the other colleges because we are the only college that solely provides higher education. In some ways, we resemble a small university. Previously, we were known as the Technical Trainers College (TTC) primarily training teachers for vocational training. Now, as AEC, we provide bachelor degrees in engineering in ICT, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. The goal is to help young Saudis become engineers or technical managers.
AHMAD SHOWAIL We teach intensive programs in cybersecurity, a field which is bound to witness important growth because of the huge demand in the market, especially following the 2012 cyber attacks on Saudi Aramco. It is difficult to retain employees in the cybersecurity field because they are always getting offers and jumping from one place to another. The Ministry of Defense and some companies give students job offers before they have even graduated. Our program seeks to involve students with IT and basic computer skills in the first two years. Then, in the next two years, we provide them with hands-on experiences in cybersecurity, teaching them how to be ethical hackers. It is expertise that many companies now are looking for. To be a great defender, you have to know how an attacker thinks. That is exactly the mentality we want to instill in our students. Anything online is hackable, but what we do as cybersecurity professionals is make the hacker's job harder. It can be a two-hour job or a two-year job, and it depends on your defenses and countermeasures, as well as the precautions you take. No matter what you do, if you do not think like a hacker, you will not be able to defend yourself. As for Saudi specifically, we are working on a new AI program that will be one of the first in the Kingdom. We do it because we see that the market is in need of graduates skilled in big data. We teach them how to use AI as a tool to help business owners make decisions.
What are some changes or challenges you anticipate?
KH There is a cultural change happening in universities. In the past, students chose extremely general disciplines, but today employers ask for more specific backgrounds. We offer these competency and skills-based programs. We offer programs in network communications, software engineering, and information engineering. We need to keep an eye on current developments and what should come next. We are seeing interesting problems develop, like hacking attacks on different websites. The IT infrastructure in the Kingdom needs careful attention to make sure it is not being hacked by terrorists or foreigners. Cybersecurity is a deeply important area. We have a new program focusing on Saudi specifically.
AS Advancement in technology is indeed changing the way we deliver education and do business with our customers. For example, last semester, we taught a course in collaboration with the University of Illinois's faculty of computer science in full synchronization. That meant the faculty members there were teaching our students, while our faculty here were teaching their students. As for challenges, CISCO is forecasting that there will be 75 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2025, forming what is called the IoT. There are two main challenges along with it. The first one, from a cybersecurity perspective, is that these devices are not secure. If you have a massive number of devices that are connected, even if they are as simple as location or humidity sensors, they do not have encryption or security features. That is because they are using cheap hardware, so their processing capabilities are very basic. As a result, these IoT devices can be easily compromised. A second challenge is the lack of a sufficient number of IP addresses for all the internet-enabled devices.
TECHNICAL COLLEGES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Interview
Mohammed A. Al-Mowkley , Deputy Minister of Water Services, Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture & CEO, National Water Company (NWC)
NWC leads the Kingdom's efforts to preserve water as a non-renewable national resource and drastically reduce the average per capita water consumption.
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Majed H. Al Saadi , Managing Director, Priority Projects Office (PPO), Local Content and Government Procurement Authority
PPO and ECA act as an accelerator for the realization of Vision 2030 by bridging the gap between the private and public sectors and helping the government diversify the economy in the long run.
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HRH Princess Hala bint Khaled bin Sultan Al-Saud C, Chairman, Saudi Law Conference (SLC) organizing committee & Founder,, Burhan Almarifa
Burhan Almarifa is focused on maturing the legal sector, encouraging innovation, and enabling research and development in KSA through knowledge transfer and consultancy.
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Sahel N. Abduljauwad, Rector, King Fahd University oF Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM)
The King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals has long been the backbone of Saudi Arabia's formidable drilling expertise. Today, it is working to train the next generation of renewable energy and water management scientists.
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Dr. Abdullah Al-Rubaish, Rector, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University (IAU)
Dr. Abdullah Al-Rubaish was appointed vice president of KFU in 2007 and president in 2010. He combined his executive experience from serving in various deanships at KFU with academic practices to become associate professor of medicine and work as a medical consultant at the Department of Internal Medicine. He graduated from KFU's College of Medicine and completed his medical internship at KFHU, where he also pursued a fellowship program. He became a member of the UK Royal College of Physicians and the Arab Board after he completed his sub-subspecialty in Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Alberta, Canada.
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Rajaa Moumena, Founder & President, Future Institute of Higher Education and Training
Saudi Arabia is allowing women more privileges, including driving and becoming ambassadors. The Future Institute of Higher Education and Training is trying to help by providing courses they need to adapt to this new world.
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