ISSUE: 06 - 21 February 2021

Which global university is rapidly upgrading its teaching delivery in order to increase class retention? Read on!

KFUPM is shifting its teaching delivery into maximum-engagement methods.

Traditional class lecturing has been proven to be very ineffective in term of students’ retention of the material, with many studies pointing out that lecturing can lead to only 5% retention, whilst discussion leads to 50%, practice by doing to 75%, and teaching others as high as 90%.

There are many well established maximum-engagement teaching methods, such as inquiry-based learning, data-driven learning, experiment-driven learning, etc. The basic idea is to start by posing a problem, project, question, inquiry, or challenge, then design tasks that engage students in thinking about how to apply the course content to address them. This enhances students’ curiosity and empowers them to be critical thinkers and life-long learners, thus vastly enhancing their retention of the material.

KFUPM has already trained 280 of its faculty on this method, and is already offering twenty courses this semester in this format. This number is slated to increase steadily until all courses amenable to this format have been converted. These courses run almost all disciplines in the University, from Earth sciences to aerospace engineering, systems engineering, computer science, management and marketing, and even global and social studies. Response from both faculty and students has been excellent. This effort will expand significantly in the future to make greater academic retention a fundamental pillar of the new academic distinction and a competitive advantage of the University.

KFUPM is a quickly rising star in global academics, ranked 10th in Petroleum Engineering, 84th in Chemical Engineering, and 4th in the number of US registered patents.

Come join this exciting journey. For more information: engage@kfupm.edu.sa

For previous issues of the newsletter please visit newsletter.kfupm.edu.sa

ISSUE: 05 - 15 February 2021

Which global university overhauled its research program? Read on!

KFUPM restructured its research program to quadruple its research output and is developing 20 new interdisciplinary research centers.

With strong emphasis on interdisciplinary work and maximum inclusion of all its faculty, KFUPM has redesigned and restructured its research program. All faculty members are jointly appointed in one or more research centers, and all research centers are interdisciplinary. In fact, all of them carry the moniker of “Interdisciplinary Research Center for...”, just to emphasize the point. Twenty such centers are currently in development, including the:

Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Materials,
Interdisciplinary Center for Intelligent Manufacturing and Robotics,
Interdisciplinary Center for Membranes and Water Security,
Interdisciplinary Center for Intelligent Secure System, and
Interdisciplinary Center for Future Mobility and Logistics.

The overall goal of this effort is to consolidate the research and to give it a lively agenda to amplify its societal, national, and global impact; ensure maximum interdisciplinary collaboration; enhance the relationship between researchers and academia; increase collaboration with the industry and other academic institutions; and support research in grand challenges with stable funding.

It should eventually be easy to answer the questions: “What did KFUPM invent?” and “How did it benefit society?” Another goal is to quadruple the annual research output of the university.

KFUPM is a quickly rising star in global academics, ranked 10th in Petroleum Engineering, 84th in Chemical Engineering, and 4th in the number of US registered patents.

Come join this exciting journey. For more information: engage@kfupm.edu.sa

For previous issues of the newsletter please visit newsletter.kfupm.edu.sa

ISSUE: 04 - 06 January 2021

Which global university introduced 15 brand new professional Master's degrees to be ready for the future? Read on!

KFUPM introduced 15 graduate Master's degrees in exciting topics.

Activating professional leaders is key for unleashing any economy. For this reason, KFUPM introduced 15 new professional Master's degrees in exciting fields. The intent behind these programs, which the University is offering for the first time, is to establish a strong foundation for leaders and professionals who will go on to establish their own new startup ventures or will go back to their employers with a much more enhanced understanding of their discipline.

The design of these programs is similar to the leading global universities. Each program is a one-year full-time degree, during which the student covers 30 credit hours in a concentrated fashion. The disciplines include the following Master's degrees: Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Blockchains, Data Science, Computational Analytics, Quantum Computing, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Computational Material and Modeling, Industrial Catalysis, Materials Science and Engineering, Petrochemical Engineering, Polymer Science and Engineering, Bioengineering, Supply Chain Management, Sustainable and Renewable Energy, and Wireless Communication Networks.

This is also the first time KFUPM offers academic degrees to both genders on a meritorious basis. Each of these degrees is called a Master of X (e.g. Master of Artificial Intelligence), and hence the MX abbreviation. The response to the program from both students and employers has been quite substantial. In fact, the program was more than 10x oversubscribed and several companies sponsored the students into the program. The University believes that this is a major foundation that would enable the Saudi economy to transform from a resource-monetization economy into a diversified knowledge-based economy that allows the Kingdom to be not only a participant but a competitor in the new global digital economy.

KFUPM is a quickly rising star in global academics, ranked 10th in petroleum engineering, 84th in chemical engineering, and 4th in the number of US registered patents.

Come join this exciting journey. For more information: engage@kfupm.edu.sa

For previous issues of the newsletter please visit newsletter.kfupm.edu.sa

ISSUE: 03 - 29 December 2020

Which global university introduced 20 concentrations so its graduates are ready for the future? Read on!

KFUPM introduced 20 Undergraduate Concentrations in exciting topics.

The world is moving towards specialization. To prepare our graduates for the job market of tomorrow, they must not only have a good grasp of their basic discipline, but have on top of it a specialization that makes them ready to hit the ground running and integrate directly and swiftly into the working environment of their employers. For this reason, the University introduced a new program called the Undergraduate Concentrations Program, in which every student has the opportunity to earn not only his/her regular degree, but a concentration in that degree as well. This way, KFUPM graduates who are already distinguished in the job market, will be even more distinguished.

These concentrations include the following topics: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Cyber Security and Blockchain, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Quantum Computing, Data Science, Computational Analytics, Material Engineering, Non-Metallic Materials, Polymer Technology, Hydrogen Mobility, Process Safety, Computational Materials and Modeling, Communication Systems, Electronic Defense Systems, Drone Design and Application, Renewable Energy and Storage, Energy Efficiency, Human Resources Management, Supply Chain Management, and Business Analytics. The concentrations were developed in a truly multidisciplinary way. Every concentration was developed by a team composed of faculty from several different departments, and the programs include courses from multiple departments; for example, the Non-Metallic Materials concentration has courses from Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Chemistry. This program is unmatched and is very rare in top-notch universities. It means that the students will be able to very quickly become a contributing members of any work environment in which they enroll.

KFUPM is a quickly rising star in global academics, ranked 10th in Petroleum Engineering, 84th in Chemical Engineering, and 4th in the number of US registered patents.

Come join this exciting journey. For more information: engage@kfupm.edu.sa

For previous issues of the newsletter please visit newsletter.kfupm.edu.sa

ISSUE: 02 - 20 December 2020

Which global university has the strongest and most complete digital foundation of its programs? Read on!

KFUPM overhauled all its undergraduate programs to have a strong digital foundation.

This year, KFUPM overhauled all its undergraduate curricula to have the strongest and most complete digital foundation, called the AI+X platform, such that every student, no matter the major, has AI in addition to it. This is done so to enable its graduates, already distinguished in the job market, to be able to speak not only the language of today, but also that of tomorrow, irrespective of their discipline. All programs now have the same strong foundation of digital and business disciplines, delivered across the first three years of study.

This foundation includes courses in data science (optimization, big data, clustering, visualization, etc.), artificial intelligence (machine learning, neural networks, feature extraction, computer vision, etc.), advanced programming (Python, C, advanced data structures, etc.), business (accounting, managerial finance, marketing, etc.), entrepreneurship (funding, business model, minimum viable product, etc.), and career essentials (job search, corporate culture metrics, etc.). All KFUPM students are therefore exposed to these new topics, which are taught in mixed classes such that students from different academic departments practice the digital language together.

KFUPM is a quickly rising star in global academics, ranked 10th in Petroleum Engineering, 84th in Chemical Engineering, and 4th in the number of US registered patents.

Come join this exciting journey. For more information: engage@kfupm.edu.sa

For previous issues of the newsletter please visit newsletter.kfupm.edu.sa

ISSUE: 01 - 17 December 2020

Which global university is making a rapid transformation to achieve its lofty aspirations? Read on!

Learn what KFUPM did in 2020.

Yes, we have been intentionally silent. We wanted to speak of what we achieved rather than we planned to achieve. Over the past year, through its new independent status, KFUPM:

Set out to make a substantive impact on the national and global economy.
Overhauled all its 35 academic majors to be based on an AI+X digital foundation.
Introduced 20 brand new undergraduate concentrations in exciting disciplines.
Launched 15 brand new professional Master's programs for maximum societal impact.
Integrated novel learning methods into its course delivery for better student development.
Opened its new MX programs to both genders on a meritorious basis.
Restructured research to solve grand challenges and to be truly interdisciplinary.
Started a major push for establishing new startups, with four already in the market.
Extended its arms to collaborators and alums to engage them in a meaningful way.
Ranked 10th worldwide in petroleum engineering, 84th in chemical engineering, and 4th in the number of US registered patents.

This just a summary. We will send more information in the following weeks.
Come join this exciting journey. For more information: engage@kfupm.edu.sa