We have been sensing many changes lately, where Saudi Arabia has been opening new doorways for more business and career opportunities. While the whole world’s stumbling through a dark and grim future, we can see a bright light that shines over our beloved country, and this is merely the beginning. What’s Up met Dr. Mohammed Balubaid Vice Dean for Academic at Prince Sultan College here in Jeddah to tell us more about that new exciting renaissance we are experiencing.

What’s Up: As a college are you connected to any major university?

Dr. Mohammed Balubaid: We are affiliated to Al Faisal University, yet Prince Sultan’s College focuses on Administration and tourism majors.

WU: Do you only provide courses and diplomas?

MB: We offer our graduates diplomas, and bachelor’s degrees in three main departments. The first is The Department of Management which offers majors like Business Administration, Marketing, Finance, Accounting & Information Systems.

We have The Department of Tourism that offers students majors like Tourism Management, Event Management, ECO & Adventure Tourism.

The third department is The Department of Hospitality which offer Hospitality Management.

WU: The first question that comes to mind when you talk about tourism, is do we even really have such a thing here in Saudi Arabia? What most people are familiar with is religious tourism.

MB: Tourism is an essential part of any country’s economy, and to become a well known tourism destination you need to encourage the locals to be hospitable enough to foreigners, and this is something new that is just starting here, since Arabs have been known to be one of the most hospitable races, we believe that Saudis have what it takes to be a successful country in tourism, of course apart from religious tourism. We are building a new vision and supporting that too. Statistics show that we used a low percentage of the tourism potential we have, if you think of that you will notice that this is a great opportunity for young people to lead a new industry and field that has never been tapped before. Think of the potential of starting your business by renting a tour desk in a hotel to take visitors on trips around Saudi cities.

WU: That is an interesting point of view, you remember a couple of years back everyone was trying to get a job in a bank, and now we have this new wide open door with huge potentials.

MB: As I said, tourism in Saudi Arabia is the next big thing; all it takes is getting the right knowledge, and applying it. Now bear in mind we have two departments that focus on that; tourism and hospitality, and both of them offer a lot of special knowledge that can really develop professionals to build this industry on.

WU: We have been noticing recently that many individuals are starting their own event management business, how would getting a proper education help them?

MB: The funny thing is that Saudi Arabia has the largest event on this planet, Hajj. Saudi Arabia manages to handle millions of visitors coming here by air, sea, and land, during a short period of time, and that takes substantial efforts. That shows you that this major is really needed, and not to be taken lightly.

When a student signs up to Event Management, he gets to learn everything he needs to build an arsenal of know-hows that will help him manage any number or type of people for any kind of event.

WU: So does that mean that the student would learn how to use these skills to gain profit or make a business out of it?

MB: Of course, these skills are part of the basics that he will learn within the first two years, where he can obtain a diploma, after that he can finish his bachelor’s degree with a specialized major in event management. Now that said, I would like to add that many people don’t know that we offer a full curriculum in different fields of business. With that type of mixture we can be an essential part of raising Saudi tourism professionals.

WU: People have this engraved impression that young Saudis are looking for jobs where they get assigned to a desk with the title “Manager” on it, do you feel that this is still true till date?

MB: Well I can tell you first hand that this is changing, this generation is looking for practical ways to live their lives, and we’ve begun to see that ambition to do something that is distinct and different – I think that it will take some time for the public at large to realize that, but the change is happening. We even have some students who are getting night classes because they have a job during the day, that shows that they are responsible and want to make a difference. On the other hand the government is listing job titles, positions, and minimum wages for jobs like waiters, busboys, restaurant managers, and even receptionists, to help in opening more job opportunities for anyone who is willing to work and make a living.

WU: Why did Al Faisal University focus on creating Prince Sultan’s College in the first place?

MB: First of all you need to understand that Al Faisal’s University is a non-profit organization that strives to help the society, and in our case by spreading learning and proper education in various needed fields, like business, tourism, and hospitality. That’s why all our curricula are in English, to prepare a new breed of professionals who can easily communicate with the outside world, and with that , our graduates will have their native Arabic tongue, with fluency in English, and a solid academic base that would make our grads top notch for the working market.

WU: How did you design such a curriculum?

MB: We got a great mixture from Virginia Tech University in the U.S., the University of Queensland in Australia, and King Fahad University of Petroleum & Minerals, plus the supervision of our faculty professors, to provide our students with a solid curriculum approved by the Ministry of Higher Education.

WU: What are the requirements to join Prince Sultan’s College?

MB: Nothing really except being high school graduate, and pass our grading exams, after that and depending on his English language level we will evaluate him to see if he needs to take an English course or not. We even have international students from Switzerland, Austria, and India joining the college.

WU: This raises an interesting question, why would a foreigner study tourism, or hospitality in a country that is just starting to explore this field?

MB: There are many reasons for that, some of our students have obtained a diploma in tourism in the past from their countries before the college was opened, and wanted to continue their education. In other cases they couldn’t obtain bachelors degree in their own countries because it wasn’t available, and in some examples the cost of study was too steep. Another good reason is that we are offering a curriculum that is designed by some of the most reputable universities around the world; it makes our degree quite desirable and convenient.

WU: How much are the tuition fees?

MB: As a non-profit organization we managed to keep costs at minimum, since all the revenue is spent on developing and enhancing our facilities, so we have set our tuition per credit hour at SR 900, since each course varies between 2 to 3 hours. Our English program would cost about SR 4000 for each level, and we offer four levels per year. All prices mentioned include curriculum textbooks.

The Saudi government is also helping students by granting them scholarships, so you can see the drive towards this new field. That vision is proven by the contracts we got from hotels here in Saudi Arabia who signed deals with us to hire our graduates once they finish their studies, so that’s an extra bonus for students.

WU: How many students do you have right now?

MB: We have 250 students, keep in mind we are in our second year, many people don’t even know about the college yet.

Our country has many tourist treasures that have not been tapped into or even discovered yet, and now is the time to start this new exciting era, and be part of developing and improving our country, that is the least we can do for it.

WU: What are Prince Sultan College’s future plans?

MB: Well I can tell you about two surprises we have for our society, but I won’t give you many details right now. The first is offering our own MBA degree for the first time, and the second is that we are planning to start a new section of Prince Sultan College for females. Once we get things rolling What’s Up will be one of the first publications that will get more details.