Umm Al-Qura University, represented by the College of Education, on Sunday, 15 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1442 A.H., via the WebEx platform, launched its first forum for educational scientific research for postgraduate students, which will continue until 25 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1442 A.H. The forum is held under the auspices of His Excellency Prof. Abdul-Wahhab bin Abdullah Al-Resini, University Vice President for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research, and is organized and coordinated by His Excellency Prof. Dr. Abdullah bin Muhammad Aal Tamim, Vice Dean of the College of Education for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research (male section), and Her Excellency Dr. Busainah Al-Ghamidi, Vice Dean of the College for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research (female section), with the participation of a group of academic staff members in the male and female sections of the college.

The First Educational Scientific Forum organized by the College of Education held the opening ceremony on Sunday, 15 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1441 A.H., in the presence of the UQU Vice President for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research, Prof. Abdul-Wahhab bin Abdullah Al-Resini, who delivered a speech wishing the forum and its organizers the best of success and achievement. The opening ceremonoy was attended by Her Excellency the Dean of the College of Education, Dr. Al-Unoud bint Omar bin Mahdar, who congratulated all participants and attendees on the launch of the forum and wished them every success and advancement.

On his part, His Excellency the Vice Dean of the College of Education for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research, Dr. Abdullah Aal Tamim, stressed in his speech that the forum aims to raise the level of scientific research outputs, develop scientific concepts and methods among postgraduate students, and qualify them to conduct scientific research in various educational fields according to high-quality standards and rules that elevate their research outputs to distinction.

In her speech, Her Excellency the Vice Dean of the College for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research, Dr. Busainah Al-Ghamidi, shed light on the vision, mission and objectives of the forum, and highlighted its eight themes, the titles of the training courses it includes, and the objective of each course. She wished every success to the forum and its organizers and trainers, hoping it will yield its desired fruits and achieve the sought-after goal of serving the postgraduate students at the college.

The first four themes, which were presented during the first week of the forum program, included a course entitled: "Skills of Writing a Research Plan", presented by His Excellency Dr. Murdi bin Ghurmullah Hasan Al-Zahrani, Associate Professor at the Department of Curriculum and Teaching Methods, on Sunday, 15 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1442 A.H. In the course, His Excellency provided a detailed explanation of each element of the research plan and how to write the plan according to applicable scientific standards, guidelines, conditions, and specifications to improve the quality of the scientific paper. He gave examples and application models to help the students fully comprehend the topic.

On the second day of the forum, Monday, 16 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1442 A.H., Her Excellency Dr. Amal bint Muhammad Utaibah, Associate Professor of Fundamentals of Education, presented a course entitled: "Needed Proficiency for High-Quality Scientific Research". Some important themes were addressed in the course, on which Her Excellency shed light, namely: the concept of research proficiency, its characteristics, sources, fields, types, reasons and needs for it, and its classifications. Within each classification, examples were given of the proficiency required for the educational scientific researcher to ensure the high quality of the scientific research.

On Tuesday, 17 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1442 A.H., His Excellency Prof. Muhammad Mujahid Zainuddin, Professor of Fundamentals of Education, presented a course entitled: "Academic Writing", in which His Excellency covered useful topics for postgraduate students. The course emphasized the requirements of academic writing: the preface of the thesis, the elements of the outline, the theoretical framework along with the previous studies, the field procedures, the scientific requirements for documentation and the interpretation of findings as well as recommendations and proposals, and writing a list of sources and references.

On the fourth day, Wednesday, 18 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1442 A.H, Her Excellency Dr. Wafaa bint Abdul-Aziz Mahdar, Professor of Educational Administration and Assistant Planning, presented a course entitled: "Citation and Plagiarism in Scientific Research". Its themes revolved around the following points: the concept of citation and the scientific researcher's need for it, its types, conditions, and guidelines, the dangers of plagiarism or scientific theft and the harm it causes the researcher, university programs to detect plagiarism, and the websites that provide plagiarism detection services in scientific research.

All the trainers were keen to interact with the students and respond to all their questions and inquiries. The courses of the first week witnessed a great turnout of postgraduate students in the university, ranging between (350–400) male and female students, in addition to a large attendance of the academic staff members and academics.

On their part, the students expressed their sincere gratitude and happiness with these courses and their urgent need for them, and stressed that they met their expectations and needs for their scientific career.

The Educational Scientific Research Forum, with the help of Allah Almighty, will continue its activities, offering four other training sessions in the period starting next Sunday, 22 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1442 A.H., and ending Wednesday, 25 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1442 A.H. The forum is technically supervised by His Excellency Dr. Sayyid Shaaban, Associate Professor of Education Technologies, and a number of technicians, who strive to make the forum successful at the technical level. Verily, Allah is the Grantor of success and He guides to the right path.