Dr. Abdullah bin Omar BaFail, the UQU President, launched the Umm Al-Qura University’s application for smart phones with options that would contribute to serve the UQU faculty members, employees and students. The launching event was attended by Dr. Hani bin Osman Ghazi, UQU Vice President for Development and Entrepreneurship; Dr. Abdul Aziz bin Rashad Srougy, the Vice President for the Educational Affairs; and a number of vice deans of relevant colleges. It was held at the meeting hall at the UQU President’s office in the University City in Al-Abediya.

Dr. Atef Al-Hejaili, the Vice Dean of IT for e-Transactions, presented the added options of the application that includes a bank of information about the University. He highlighted that it allows the affiliates to enter the e-portal, access the e-services and watch the latest news and events held at the University.

Hejaili explained that the new version of the application is distinguished by the control panel, which helps the user following up on the coming events and adding the favorite services which make them easy to be accessed quickly. The user also can re-organize the tab bar at the end of the screen or change the offered services according to the individual need. The application provides each user with the important services in an easy and effective way, such as the schedule for the students and the lecturers or the attendance and financial track for the employees. He added that each affiliate can program one’s access to a user name with a finger print or face print to be connected to one’s account, which makes the re-access to the application easy. He noted that the schedules’ service can be accessed without logging to the internet.

He said that the general services offered by the application include following up on the University’s news, events and geographic location, in addition to transaction and paying orders inquires and (who messaged me?). He pointed that the academic services offered include the schedule, academic record, theses supervision reports, student plan, proposed curricula, academic transactions, academic penalties, GPA, in addition to the administrative services for the students, employees and faculty members.

 Moreover, Dr. Ghazi praised Dr. BaFail concern and consideration for developing the University’s e-services and automating them. He highlighted that there is a comprehensive development for all the e-services that are being offered by the University to more than 120,000 affiliates including students, employees and faculty members. He then lauded the effort exerted by the Deanship of Information Technology in developing the University’s services.

After that, Dr. BaFail praised the support given by the wise leadership to the educational process and its administrative and research environment, highlighting that this support contributed to the development of the programs and services offered by the University to its affiliates. He noted that developing the e-services in the University comes in line with the Kingdom Vision 2030 towards e-governance.

He then acknowledged the support of Dr. Ahmed bin Mohamed Al-Issa, the Minister of Education, for the programs and activities of the university, praising the efforts of Dr. Ghazi and his staff who contributed to developing the e-services across the University. At the end he wished every body luck and success in bringing the UQU to be one of the top-ranked universities globally.