Prof. Dr. Abdullah bin Omar Bafil, President of Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), launched at his office the Formulation Project of the Five-Year Strategic Plan of UQU.  The event that was held on Saturday noon, 8^th Dhulqe’da 1439H (21^st July 2018), was attended by Dr. Hani bin Othman Ghazi (UQU Vice-President for Development and Entrepreneurship), Dr. Ayman Jawharjy (Dean of the Nursing College), Dr. Muhammad Thabit (Dean of University Development and Quality Deanship), as well as Dr. Ali Al-Shaery (Dean of the Institute of Consulting Research and Studies).

According to Dr. Bafil, the Strategic Plan of UQU was given the title “Tamkeen (Empowerment).” He added that it would cover the years 1441-1445H in accordance with the Saudi Vision 2030, the National Transformation Programs 2020, as well as Makkah Region Development Plan. He also confirmed that the plan generally aimed to empower UQU to be among the top 200 international universities according to prestigious international rankings. On the other hand, Dr. Hani Ghazi said that the plan would be supervised by both Dr. Ayman Jawharjy and Dr. Muhammad Thabit. He added that a distinguished group of UQU members of staff, as well as some local, regional and international extra-UQU advisors, would take part in the plan’s design. Moreover, he said that among the objectives of the plan was the empowerment of UQU staff members to publish their scientific research in high-impact international publishing journals. He added that the plan aimed to empower UQU students to participate in decision making and fully utilize resources of the university. The plan also targeted the empowerment of UQU employees for continuous development and improvement. Dr. Ghazi added that through the plan, UQU would be able to achieve utmost investment of its resources, and enhance its social responsibility. It is worth mentioning that the plan will include planning for UQU and all its colleges, assistant deanships and institutes. In addition to that, Dr. Ayman Jawharjy stated that the plan would be designed in the balanced scorecard (BSC) fashion. He added that it would include the review of UQU previous strategic plans, the Saudi Vision 2030, the National Transformation Programs 2020, as well as several strategic plans of similar universities locally, regionally and internationally. This would be followed by holding several workshops and interviews, distributing questionnaires that analyzed the internal and external environments, and then formulating the university's identity, paths and strategic objectives. Within the same context, Dr. Muhammad Thabit added that the plan would generate a range of strategic initiatives. He also said that performance would be assessed by electronic-program-based indicators for standardized monitoring of the strategy’s implementation. Within the same vein, he said that strategy and initiative management offices will be established, and that the strategic plan of UQU would generate other compatible strategic plans for its colleges.