The Vice President of the University for Educational Affairs, Dr. Abdulaziz bin Rashad Suruji, met with the delegation of the National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment (NCAAA) during his visit to the Joint First Year Deanship on Thursday, 9 Jumada Al-Thani, 1440 A.H., corresponding to 14 February 2019 A.C. The visit was in the presence of His Excellency the Dean of the Joint First Year Deanship, Dr. Sa`d bin Sa`id Al-Ghamdi, the Vice Dean Dr. Ahmad bin Fawzi bin Siraj Arba`in, the Vice Dean for Educational Affairs, Dr. Ahmad bin Atiyyah Al-Zahrani, the Vice Dean for Branches, Dr. Rami bin Adel Basha, the Vice Dean of the Medical Stream (Female Section), Dr. Azzah bint Muhammad Bannunah, and the Vice Dean for the Two Streams (academic and administrative), Dr. Haifa' bint Hussain Hijazi.

The delegation visit comes as part of a research project carried out by NCAAA to learn about the experience of the Joint First Year Deanship in the university, identify its good practices, and collect information from the students and academic staff members in the deanship as well as the leaders and members of the academic staff at the colleges involved in the program of the joint first year in the university.

Prof. Suruji pointed out during his meeting with the NCAAA delegation to the special features of the Joint First Year program at UQU and its various advantages, making it a model to be followed by other universities in terms of the self-sufficiency of its complete academic and administrative staff pursuant to the ministry's directives, and of the necessity of giving all the students enrolled in the program, including the unsuccessful students, a seat in the university. Umm Al-Qura University is also distinguished in carrying out direct admissions to the colleges not involved in the program at the same time as the admissions to the Joint First Year program.

On his part, Dr. Sa`d Al-Ghamdi praised the support and guidance of His Excellency Prof. Abdullah bin Omar Bafail, President of the University, and the continuous follow up of the Vice President for Educational Affairs, Dr. Abdulaziz bin Rashad Suruji, for all the activities and events of the deanship. He added that the UQU Joint First Year Deanship is classified by the NCAAA as one of the top three most helpful deanships with regard to its cooperation in providing the required information.

At the conclusion of the visit, that lasted from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and included several meetings with the academic leadership, the academic staff, and the students, in addition to a field visit to the facilities of the Joint First Year Deanship in the male and female sections, the NCAAA delegation expressed their appreciation of the cooperation of Umm Al-Qura University, remarking that they observed many good practices during their visit to the UQU Joint First Year Deanship. In addition, they said they would continue visit the joint first year deanships in other Saudi Universities to conduct reference comparisons, thereby forming a comprehensive overview of the different programs in all the Saudi universities.