On Thursday at noon, 21 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1440 A.H., at the UQU College of Education, the doctoral thesis, submitted by the student A'ishah bint Fu'ad Hasan Abu Shanab in the major of "Educational Administration and Planning", was defended. The thesis is entitled: 'The Future Role of Technology Valleys in the Development of the Cognitive Economy to Grant the Saudi Universities Competitive Advantages in Light of the Global Expertise: Proposed Conception'.

The thesis was supervised by Dr. Turki bin Kadimis Al-Utaibi, the Head of Educational Administration and Planning Department at the UQU College of Education. The discussion committee consisted of Prof. Abdul-Aziz bin Sulaiman Al-Dawish, the Dean of the Deanship of Faculty Members and Employee Affairs at the Saudi Electronic University and a Professor at the Administration and Educational Planning Department at the College of Education, Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University (external examiner); and Prof. Hashim bin Bakr Hariri, the Former Vice-President and a Professor at the Department of Educational Administration and Planning at the UQU College of Education (internal examiner).

At the end of the discussion, the student was awarded the doctorate degree with excellent grade, with a recommendation to print the thesis and circulate it among different universities and scientific research centers.