The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Naeem Al-Aboudi, chaired the second meeting of the Opinion Committee for 2025, attended by senior officials and presidents of public universities.

At the outset of the meeting, the Minister emphasized the Ministry's unwavering commitment to its scientific and service-oriented role in supporting students, providing assistance, and fostering leadership opportunities.

He stressed the importance of upholding authentic academic values and preserving university traditions during academic events to strengthen the standing of educational institutions as inspiring models in fulfilling their mission and developmental goals.

Dr. Al-Aboudi reaffirmed the necessity of working within the granted authorities, facilitating procedures in accordance with legal requirements, and streamlining efforts to serve the public interest in light of the Ministry's comprehensive digital transformation and process automation.

The Opinion Committee members discussed the items on the agenda and voted on the following decisions:

• Public and private universities, colleges, and institutes are to upload and update student, faculty, and curriculum data into the Ministry's central systems (SIS, LMS, and HRMS) as part of the ongoing automation project launched by the Prime Minister.
• Adoption of a specialized form for discussing higher diploma projects in medical fields.
• Raising the minimum score for faculty performance evaluations to 75% for the 2024/2025 academic year.
• Approval to allow the addition of PhD holders with the rank of lecturer who possess experience and competence to the scientific committees within departments in the absence of senior academic ranks.
• Endorsement of the draft law for the Institute of Urban and Regional Planning for Postgraduate Studies.