The College of Medicine at King Khalid University has undertaken an amazing journey since its inception in 1980 AD (1400H) to reach its present stature as a recognized institute in the country. The college has contributed immensely toward the achievement of institutional goals by incessantly striving to attain quality in medical academics, scientific research and community service activities. The impetus for this was the establishment of a separate Vice-Deanship of Academic Development and Quality at the College of Medicine under my supervision during the academic year 2012-2013 AD (1433-1434H) leading to the incorporation of a quality culture.
The MBBS program at College of Medicine received full accreditation from the Education & Training Evaluation Commission-National Center for Academic Accreditation and Evaluation (ETEC-NCAAA) in 2019 AD (1440H),which was a proud moment for all stakeholders. Thereafter, the ETEC-NCAAA was accredited and recognized by World Federation of Medical Education (WFME) in 2022 AD (1433H), indicating that all graduates of the MBBS program shall be eligible to apply for medical licensing examinations worldwide.
My vision for the future development of the College of Medicine and its associated academic programs is multidimensional; time-bound in nature aligned with the mission of the institution and the Kingdom at large, we are plaining to have ambitious curriculum to meet future demand with benchmarking of top international & national universities.
The strategic plan for the college shall involve restructuring the MBBS program to align its academics with other prestigious institutions in the country. The goal is to maintain standing with the rapid pace of developments in the field of medicine, in addition to implementing post-graduate programs in most of the disciplines.
It is an imperative need of the hour to diversify and establish super-specialty departments catering to the needs of the community and bolster advancement of scientific research. With the ardent support of the institution's administration, initiation of the new self-administered university hospital located at the AlFaraa campus site has become the most valuable asset to the college. Its presence is a tremendous step forward to achieving state-of-art hospital care for patients, advanced scientific research, initiation of new courses and community service activities. The main campus for boys will be translocating to the new campus site and shall be initiated at the beginning of the academic year 2022-2023 AD (1444H).
The college actively supports rigorous faculty development and encourages departments to organize scientific meetings, conferences, workshops and other community service activities. The institution invites its faculty to express interest in conducting scientific research by offering intramural research funds periodically and encourages external collaborations for advancement purposes.
As always, our prime stakeholders are the students and they are provided with an engaging academic environment to develop and grow as ethical, compassionate health care professionals and leaders with a zest for continued lifelong learning. The college fully supports the extracurricular activities of students while encouraging innovative fervor. We are all immensely proud of the accolades and achievements attained by them at regional and national levels.
I wish to thank our esteemed institutional administrators, college faculty, staff and stakeholders for their continued support and trust. And I look forward to many success stories in the future.
Prof. Ali Saeed Al-Qahtani
Dean, College of Medicine,
King Khalid University, Abha