The rise in wealth for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia led to an increase in demand for more and better housing. In response to this rising demand, and as part of an overall development policy, a housing 60a1 and several housing objectives were identified. To attain the goal and objectives, a formal housing policy was designed and authorized. It involved direct and indirect assistance to the private sector, a subsidized financing program for new housing construction, a serviced land program for the low income, and public housing. This thesis is an evaluation of the urban housing policy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two bases of evaluation espoused developing are utilized. The first is the Kingdom's own housing objectives. The second involves a theoretical framework which addresses the rationales behind housing policy. The required information was collected from official government documents. Interviews were conducted in the Kingdom to gather additional and unpublished information. Additionally, field visits to housing projects were conducted tn the cities of Jeddah and Riyadh. Where information for the Kingdom as a whole was unavailable, data for the city of Jeddah was utilized. The policy results of the evaluation show that public sector involvement in housing is most effective when indirectly applied. That is, subsidies to the private sector and to purchasers of housing through finance subsidies were more successful in providing housing units than direct involvement through public housing. An important consequence of the difference in effectiveness between privately and publicly built housing is that poor households were deprived of housing benefits. Recommendations for future housing policy include the provision of housing benefits to the poor, either through the existing, but uninhabited public housing units, or through earmarked transfers, or a combination of both. It is also recommended that the existing and future status of public housing be realistically evaluated. Finally, it is recommended that the range of financing activities be expanded and that the private sector assistance policies be continued.

No description available.

No description available.

This study, Pioneer Schools Effectiveness and Improvement in Saudi Arabia: The Case of the Secondary Educational Institutions, is the first systematic investigation of school effectiveness (SE) and school improvement (SI) in relation to the Kingdom’s ambitious Pioneer Secondary Schools Programme (PSP) first introduced in 2000. It selected all eight boys’ Pioneer Schools in the Educational District of Al Madinah Al Munawwarah, as a case study to determine, a decade after its inception, how four key groups now understand and describe the attributes of an effective school: principals, teachers, students and parents. Its unique approach is to utilise a mixed research method by combining both quantitative statistical analysis and qualitative approaches, and using hermeneutics in the latter in order to triangulate the findings. The study departed from the once traditional approach which relied heavily on quantified test results or achievement scores to determine SE and methods of SI. Instead, this study posed three fundamental research questions ad generated lists of identifiable indices of priorities and outlooks of the four respondent groups in relation to SESI for the schools in question. The findings of this study consistently show that, from the perspective of those surveyed and interviewed, much more has to be done in pioneer schools in Saudi Arabia before they can be considered truly effective schools in international terms. Moreover, the discussion of the data generated draws the further conclusion that international educational research on SESI issues points to a much more involved and sophisticated process than is suggested by the priorities and outlook of the respondents of this study in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas State University Libraries / Department: Geology.

The focus of this study is the development of an e-learning training package for the academic staff in King Faisal University (KFU) in Saudi Arabia. Evidence suggests that there is a lack of training for academic staff in Saudi Higher Education on how to integrate e-learning in their teaching. Despite this, very little attention is paid in the research literature to the design and evaluation of e-learning training. There is no clarity therefore about what constitutes effective e-learning training in higher education. This study aimed to design, implement and evaluate a training package for the academic staff. The study was conducted in two phases: 1) identifying the e-learning training needs and preferences of the academic staff in KFU; 2) designing, implementing and assessing a training package based on identified needs and preferences, e-learning training literature and common learning theories in the field. The study was qualitative. In phase one, 69 questionnaires and 17 interviews were analysed. The survey findings showed that the academic staff do suffer from the lack of training. Furthermore, the data showed a disagreement with the existing literature about the factors that limit the academic staff’s use of e-learning. The academic staff’s preferences for their future e-learning training were also determined and used to inform the design of the training package. Key design features of the training package included: covering both technical and pedagogical aspects of Blackboard; using blended delivery and using both cognitive constructivism and social constructivism to underpin its pedagogy. Evaluation data collected from a range of sources suggest that the academic staff responded well to the design features of the training package and that the training had a positive influence on their practice. The study has proposed a model for the design and evaluation of e-learning training in higher education that based on five generic criteria including ownership, intersubjectivity, contextualisation, transformational potential and evidence based.

This thesis investigates the suitability of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) for Saudi Arabia by examining the perceptions of accounting users and preparers. It explores the information needs of the main users of accounting, the factors that represent barriers to the adoption of IFRSs, and the costs and benefits of the adoption of IFRSs. The study compares Saudi Accounting Standards (SASs) and IFRSs. In addition, a questionnaire survey was conducted and semi-structured interviews were carried out to examine the issues in greater depth in order to answer the research questions. The political nature of accounting standards is investigated, as well as theories of accountability and decision usefulness in order to interpret the results and explore to what extent and in what manner these frameworks function in the Saudi environment. The Islamic accountability framework would suggest that companies represented by owners and managers are accountable to their stakeholders’ interests, and owners and managers must protect those interests and disclose everything that may help them to discharge their accountability. However, the findings presented in this thesis suggest that practice of the Islamic accountability framework is limited. The influence of religious factors on the accounting system is limited in some cases as there is inadequate disclosure and transparency, such as a lack of information required for Sharia compliance; this affects users’ ability to make decisions. The results also reveal some evidence that accounting standard setting is dominated by political (rather than ‘user-needs’) considerations. Furthermore, economic factors override social and cultural factors, including religion, in terms of their influence on the accounting system. The results suggest inter alia that religious factors will not represent a barrier to the use of other standards such as IFRSs. The findings suggest that the adoption of IFRSs would contribute to enhancing the quality of financial reporting. The results also reveal that financial reporting prepared on the basis of IFRSs provides more of the information required for decision-making. The results also suggest that there is, to some extent, agreement among participants as to the suitability of IFRSs to Saudi Arabia, and that their benefits would eventually overcome the difficulties and problems that may arise from their adoption, although it is still be necessary to consider certain specific requirements, such as those related to Sharia law.

No description available.

Thesis (M.Arch.A.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: p. 69. / by Ghazi Sahal Al-Otaibi. / M.Arch.A.S.

Thesis. 1977. M.Arch.A.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.Arch.A.S.