On Wednesday, 8 Sha`ban, 1440 A.H., the UQU President, Prof. Abdullah bin Omar Bafail, sponsored the ceremony of the "Award of the Colleges Registered in the Search Engines", which was organized by the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Abdul-Aziz Historical Hall in Al-Abdiyyah.

The UQU President said, "The UQU is very keen on improving scientific research competences at the level of the colleges and the male and female researchers in all scientific ranks, and on encouraging scientific publication which positively affects the level of the university's classification in international rankings." He also appreciated the university's orientation towards priorities and national needs by developing the systems and scientific infrastructure, as well as through technical development. The university also endeavors to provide the proper environment for innovation, creativity and development to achieve the vision for scientific research in the university and become the favorite destination for researchers.

Dr. Bafail praised the excellence of the human cadres at the Deanship of Scientific Research as well as the accuracy of the e-systems in forming the work procedures and in the extraction of the statistical data, according to the regulations issued and developed regularly by the Deanship of Scientific Research.

He extended his thanks to the UQU Vice President for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research, the Dean of the Deanship of Scientific Research and its staff in both sections for their efforts in highlighting the achievements of scientific research.

In addition, His Excellency Dr. Bafail launched a number of e-systems related to the management and application of research grant policies and the provision of statistics and performance indicators, which enable the reviewing of the activities and the extracting of data necessary for decision making. This is besides creating a database including detailed data on the researchers' academic ranks, interests, and research production, through documenting the published research projects of the university's researchers. This is in order to set up a well-governed e-work environment and a transparent mechanism, which the deanship has embarked on developing in coordination with the Deanship of Information Technology. Additionally, the system of volunteering research and voluntary research as well as the electronic poetic encyclopedia system, which is considered as crowning the achievements of the research team since 1438 A.H, were launched.

At the end of the event, His Excellency the UQU President honored the three best colleges registered in the search engines, and also honored the researchers who had published the highest number of research papers in the publishing channels enlisted in the (ISI) database for the year 2018 A.C. The College of Applied Sciences won the first place in the award of the most registered colleges in the search engines, the College of Public Health and Health Informatics won second place, and the College of Nursing won third place.