King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

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King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
جامعة الملك فهد للبترول و المعادن
Seal of KFUPM
Motto "وقل ربي زدني علما" (Arabic)
Established September 23, 1963
Type Public
Endowment $165,758,133
Rector Khaled S. Al-Sultan
Faculty 800+
Undergraduates 10,000+
Postgraduates 500+
Location Dhahran, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
Campus Enclosed
Website www.kfupm.edu.sa


King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (abbreviated as KFUPM or UPM)(Arabic:جامعة الملك فهد للبترول و المعادن - short:(جامعة البترول) is a public university in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It was established on 23 September 1963 by a Saudi Royal Decree as the "College of Petroleum and Minerals," providing high-level education about two of the most valuable natural resources in Saudi Arabia. It was not given the university status until 1975.


Contents

[edit] History

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) was officially established by Royal Decree on 5 Jumada I, 1383 H. (23 September 1963). The first students were admitted a year later, on 23 September 1964, when 67 young men enrolled in what was then the College of Petroleum and Minerals (CPM). Since that time, the University enrollment has grown to more than 10000 students (2004-2005).

Several significant events have marked the University's growth. In 1971, at the first graduation ceremony, four men received their baccalaureate degrees in engineering. In 1975, the College of Petroleum and Minerals became the University of Petroleum and Minerals, a change both in name and academic status. In 1986, the University was renamed: The King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.

The successful management of Saudi Arabia's vast petroleum and mineral resources poses a complex and exciting challenge for scientific, technical, and management education in the Kingdom. The University also furthers knowledge through research in these fields.

[edit] General information

Unlike the nearby King Faisal University (KFU), the KFUPM is a male only university. Its acceptance rate is 15%, making the toughest to get into in Saudi Arabia. Among Saudi universities, KFUPM is highest regarded for its excellence in the science & engineering programs. The university offers some programs that are not offered anywhere else in Saudi Arabia; such as Petroleum Engineering, Aerospace Engineering and Geophysics. The university Mathematics programs are very reputed.

[edit] Campus


Location

King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals is located in Dhahran, between the headquarters of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (SAUDI ARAMCO) and the Dhahran Air Base. The campus is situated near the Persian Gulf at a distance of about seven Kilometers from the town of Al-Khobar. The port city of Dammam, capital of the Eastern Province, is only 20 kilometers away and the oil refinery at Ras Tanura is 70 kilometers from the campus. The island of Bahrain, an independent emirate some 35 kilometers from the Saudi coastline. The oil-producing town of Abqaiq is located 70 kilometers west, and the ancient oasis of Al-Hasa is situated about 130 kilometers south of the University campus.


University Campus

The 900 acres of the University are divided into three Sectors: North, Central, and South. The North Sector consists of the Preparatory Year Campus, the North Faculty/Staff housing compound, and the student dormitories. The Central Sector contains all the academic facilities: classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, the University administration, the Research Institute, the Library, the Information Technology Center, and many support facilities. The South Sector contains faculty and senior staff housing.

The academic buildings are located on a 100-foot hill. The Academic Complex, known as Jebel (Arabic for hill) within KFUPM society, with its dramatic water tower, dominates the surrounding countryside. Fortune Magazine called it "A jewel of a university on Arabian sands", and few can view it at any hour without being deeply impressed.


Wireless Service: The Wireless Connectivity (WiFi) Service is deployed within the university campus. This KFUPM Wireless LAN service is now available in all Academic and Administrative buildings.


Smart Card Service [1]

This Smart Card is an all-in-one card and is designed to make life easier for students, faculty and staff inside KFUPM campus. This single card can be used for a whole range of campus services and access control. You can use the card for:

  • Identification
  • Building access control (Parkings, Classrooms, Offices, etc.)
  • Fingerprint access control for secure areas

There are other services that can be included and are kept as future extensions.

[edit] Academics


[edit] Prepartory Orientation Year Program

Website

Prepartory Orientation (1st) year is mandatory to all students before being truly enroll in the university, i.e. begin freshman year. In the Prep year, only Mathematics, intensive English, Introductory Physical Sciences, Computer Skills and workshop courses are given. Those who pass prep year, or are exempted from it, become full students. A student must select a major by the end of the orientation year. The GPA of that year does, to some extent, affect the choices he may have, for example, the engineering, science and MIS programs have high (above 2.0) prep year GPA requirement, whereas other majors are open to those who have somewhat lower GPA's, specially in the mathematical courses.


[edit] Colleges

KFUPM has five main colleges:


  • 3) College of Sciences Website
    • Department of Chemistry [11]:
      • Chemistry : B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.
      • Industrial Chemistry : B.Sc.
    • Earth Sciences Department [12]:
    • Islamic & Arabic Studies Department [13]:
      • offers Social, Islamic & Arabic courses
    • Department of Mathematical Sciences [14]:
    • Department of Physics [15]:
      • Physics: B.Sc., M.Sc.
      • Medical Physics: M.Sc.
  • 4) College of Industrial Management Website


Additionally, there are three more community colleges:

Recently Damman community college was inaugurated by King Abdullah.

[edit] Other Academic Departments

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[edit] Research


[edit] Research Institute

Website

Research at the university can be classified into personal, sponsored, and client- funded. The first two categories involve faculty members who may follow their personal interest or participate in research sponsored by the university or other funding agencies. Client-funded research is administered by the Vice Rector for Applied Research and involves academic departments and the Research Institute (RI). The RI is the focus of client-funded research at the university and its full time researchers together with faculty members with the appropriate expertise form teams to undertake research projects.

The mission of the RI is "to serve the nation by conducting client-driven research and development utilizing university resources". Among its objectives are: serve the nation as a professional problem solver; adapt imported technologies to the Saudi environment; serve the needs of government organizations, local industry, and businesses for research and development; develop local expertise and extend the Kingdom's knowledge base; support graduate and undergraduate programs at KFUPM, and contribute to the high quality education and training of students.

The first step in the process of clientfunded research is often a technical memorandum submitted to a prospective client(s) describing the university's applied research capabilities. In other areas, an organization may approach the RI to seek help in dealing with a problem it is facing. Alternatively, the RI may receive a request for proposal (RFP) to quote and undertake particular applied research work. The response in all cases will be a proposal describing the approach, scope, duration, and cost, with milestones and deliverables. Clients normally contract for very specific studies. A project team is formed consisting of faculty members of appropriate background and experience together with selected RI full time researchers. This arrangement reflects the manpower pool for applied research consisting of RI professionals and faculty members.

The technical expertise for applied research available in the RI is focused in its seven centers with their sections/labs.

  • Center for Applied Physical Sciences:

Laser Research, Basic & Applied Physics, Metrology & Standards Sections, and Central Analytical Laboratory.

  • Center for Communications & Computer Research:

Computer Technology, and Communications Technology Sections.

  • Center for Economics & Management Systems:

Business Incubators, Economic Studies, and Management & Quality Control Sections.

  • Center for Engineering Research:

Materials, Urban Areas Engineering, Engineering Analysis, Energy Systems Sections, and Material Characterization Laboratory.

  • Center for Environment & Water:

Water, Environment, and Marine Studies Sections.

  • Center for Petroleum & Minerals:

Petroleum & Gas Engineering, Petroleum Geology & Geophysics, Mineral Resources, and Remote Sensing Sections.

  • Center for Refining & Petrochemicals:

Refining, Petrochemicals, and Petrochemical Products Development Sections.



[edit] Library

Website

It is centrally located in Building 8, within a short walking distance from most classrooms and laboratories. It has an available floor space of nearly 7000 square meters. It is an "open stack" library, allowing users free access to its resources. Reading areas are provided on the first, third, and fourth floors. To encourage maximum utilization, the University Library operates with a minimum of regulations and restrictions. The current collection of books and bound periodicals totals over 328,000 volumes, 32% in Science, 21% in Engineering, 24% in Humanities, and 23% in Social Sciences. The Library has over 23,000 volumes in Arabic and over 300,000 volumes in English, and also subscribes to approximately 1,500 periodical titles. In addition, there are some 490,000 research reports on microfiche and 63,000 documents in other media, including more than 25,000 educational films and 38,000 reels of journal back issues on microfilm. Audiovisual materials are provided through a well-equipped AV department with a collection consisting principally of motion pictures, filmstrips, videotapes, and audiocassettes. These AV materials can be used in the Library Auditorium which is also used for seminars, lectures, short courses, theses defense, and other presentations


[edit] Campus Life

[edit] Students Clubs

[28]

  • Public Relations Club
  • Theater Club
  • Jawala Club (Scouts)
  • Cultural Club
  • Social Club
  • Systems Engineering & Computer Club
  • Mechanical Engineering Club
  • Electrical Engineering Club
  • Chemical Engineering Club
  • Civil Engineering Club
  • Petroleum Engineering Club
  • College of Industrial Management Club
  • Environmental Design Club
  • Aerospace Engineering Club
  • IEEE KFUPM student branch


[edit] Sports

The Sports Hall area (Bldg#11 in campus) contains the latest in modern indoor physical education facilities. Included are areas for basketball, volleyball, gymnastics handball, squash, table tennis, judo, taekwondo, karate, weight training and many other sports activities. Shower and changing rooms plus seating areas for spectators are also provided. Adjacent to the gymnasium is an Olympic swimming and diving pool with its own shower and changing rooms.

Another main area of sports facilities is a floodlit soccer and atheletics stadium with seating for 10,000 people, an excellent field house and spectator facilities. The playing area is a "super turf" artificial grass field. A weight training room and physical therapy unit are also available in the stadium.

The mid campus area has a 25-meter swimming pool, indoor student shower and changing facilities, 3 soccer pitches with an artificial grass surface, 4 handball/six-a-side courts, 9 tennis courts, athletic track, basketball, volleyball courts, 4 squash courts, a weight training room, and two rooms equipped with television and video facilities to aid the teaching and coaching of all sports. There is also an environmental chamber for use in Physical Education research plus administrative offices for the department.


[edit] Facts about KFUPM

  • The current Rector of KFUPM is Dr. Khaled S. Al-Sultan.
  • The main language of instruction in KFUPM is English. However, a few, including courses discussing Islam and the Arabic language – many of which are considered university requirements – are usually taught in Arabic.
  • The grade point average (GPA) scale in KFUPM is out of 4.0.
  • KFUPM, like many other Saudi universities, sponsors its graduates who showed academic excellence to continue their postgraduate studies out of Saudi Arabia. The impression of many more recent graduates that this is less so than in previous years.


Previous Rectors of KFUPM

H.E. Shaikh Ahmad Zaki Yamani
H.E. Dr. Saleh Ambah
H.E. Dr. Baker Bin Baker
H.E. Dr. Abdulaziz Al Dukhayel

Tuition

Like all Saudi public universities, there is no tuition fees and all students who maintain a good standing status (GPA > 2.0/4.0) receive 990 Saudi Riyals (264 US Dollars) as a monthly allowance. Housing is available in shared rooms of two students for about 1200 Saudi Riyals a semester for every student.


[edit] Notable alumni


[edit] Dhahran Techno-Valley

This Valley is envisioned to be the Middle East's most prestigious research and technology development nucleus with comprehensive business support. The Valley is being set to provide infrastructure for R&D to flourish in the Kingdom.


[edit] External links

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