With KSA Vision 2030 in Focus: Jeddah-based University of Business and Technology Produces Competent Leaders of the Future through High-Quality Interdisciplinary Education and Applied Research

“UBT’s collaborations with national and international partners in education, training, research, business, the nonprofit sector, and civil society organizations have strengthened its students and exemplified innovation.” 

University of Business and Technology (UBT) is a Jeddah-based leading teaching-research varsity. It fills the need for quality business education, predominantly benefiting the Kingdom’s labor market.

To highlight and further understand what UBT stands for and how lives up to the market standard, I sat down with Prof. Abdullah Dahlan, who founded UBT and serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of UBT.

Below is an excerpt.

“Education for Job Opportunities” is what University of Business and Technology stands for. It was founded to fulfill the job market needs for specialized, well-experienced, and competent employees, who are ready to face world challenges, solve current problems, and make a difference in their communities.

“UBT bridges the gap between academia and job market by developing new programs and majors, in collaboration with international universities to serve the community and contribute to the Saudi economy in supporting the realization of the vision 2030. Through discoveries, the varsity generates knowledge by applied research and transfers this knowledge to society by the right communication means, and transfers the technology to the industry with positive impact. UBT’s applied research serves the kingdom’s different economic development sectors, ranging from business, legal, advertising, science and technology, and education.”

Through its vision, UBT is committed to producing competent leaders of the future through high-quality interdisciplinary education, applied research, and community service.

The university’s educational undertaking is significant, involving approximately 500 faculty and staff members and 3000 undergraduate and graduate students. It provides practical education that actively involves students in creative projects, promoting a “self-learning" concept. Students are encouraged to independently identify and address issues to foster a broad range of abilities and a creative spirit founded on robust scientific knowledge. Therefore, all UBT students are required to undertake some general education courses regardless of their future field of specialization. In addition to this, students are required to attend several other professional workshops. Once done, these professional workshop certifications will be carried out by their concerned departments.

Besides, UBT is guided by the 2018 research roadmap of targeted commitment toward cultivating a rich student and faculty experience and driving widespread impact. Integrating research into teaching and learning will foster a high degree of expertise in students and prepare them to become the next generation of creative problem solvers and critical thinkers.

“The varsity is focusing on empowering its students with the needed skills, academic programs, and competencies that will enable them to draft the future of the economic growth of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in line with KSA vision 2030. Needless to say, UBT prepares students for work — data shows more than 80 percent are directly employed within the next six months of graduation. As many as 10,000 UBT alumni are already making their mark on society. Leading political figures, entrepreneurs, innovators, businessmen are just a small sample of the change-makers that began their journey at UBT.”

The university’s collaborations with national and international partners in education, training, research, business, nonprofit sector, and civil society organizations have strengthened its students and exemplified innovation.

“UBT is recognized at the international level by the International Association of Universities, iREG and the Association of Arab Universities and at the national level by the Ministry of Education and by NCAAA.”

The university is accredited by CEA, IAA, EDAF, EPASS, and ACCA. It is a member of AACSB, AMBA, and many others. UBT is also the first private university to be licensed by the Saudi National e-Learning Center.

Besides, UBT has been part of the fabric of the western region of the Saudi Arabia Community since its foundation in 2000, where it expanded over 21 years from a business institution to a leading university, not only in Saudi Arabia but also in the Arab region and the world. It continues to pursue its core mission of contributing to the global community by promoting creative research, creating new intellectual values, and fostering capable human resources who can generate such new values and have a great added value to the community.

“In its pursuit of that mission, the university has made significant achievements as one of the Saudi's leading teaching-research universities. Those achievements are testified by the fact that UBT has received many international awards, as mentioned above. The university has also been exploring new avenues of development to meet the job market needs within the vision 2030 of the kingdom.”

Currently, multiple complex issues threaten people all over the world, UBT reaffirms its commitments and missions by seeking solutions to the multifaceted and complex issues being faced by global society through disruptive research, new pedagogical techniques, new academic programs, and professional training programs and diplomas, and consistently share its progress with society.

“UBT believes that by prioritizing people, connecting communities, driving innovation, matching strengths with opportunities, increasing research capacity and serving society, it can uphold its status as a leading Saudi University.”

The last year marked the 20th anniversary of UBT's founding. The university's pioneering spirit of innovation and diversity has generated much fruit and it will continue to maintain the production of such nourishing fruit in the future.

Put simply, UBT will continue to make the utmost efforts to contribute to the economic growth of the kingdom and serve society through the creation of new intellectual values and the cultivation of outstanding human resources.

“UBT is recognized at the international level by the International Association of Universities, iREG and the Association of Arab Universities and at the national level by the Ministry of Education and by NCAAA.”

“UBT believes that by prioritizing people, connecting communities, driving innovation, matching strengths with opportunities, increasing research capacity and serving society, it can uphold its status as a leading Saudi University.