History Establishing Saudi Arabia’s first university was a response to the educational and professional needs of a young nation. Abdulaziz Al-Saud, proclaimed the King in 1932, and began laying the foundations for modernizing his country and establishing an educational system. In 1953, Saud, the eldest son of Abdulaziz, acceded to the throne upon his father's death. He would soon institute the Council of Ministers and establish the Ministry Education. Prince Fahd, who would eventually become the Saudi King himself, assumed the office of the first Ministry of Education, and following the first session of the Council of Ministers, he announce, “We will shortly establish the first Saudi University, this is a foregone conclusion. This university will be one of the most prominent houses of culture and sciences and will be worthy of our country where the light of Islamic faith and civilization has emanated.” The Kingdom's first institute of higher education, King Saud University, was subsequently opened in Riyadh in 1957. Prince Fahd was committed to promoting higher education, and once said, “I am interested, before anything else, in supporting higher and vocational education in this country in order to add a new and illustrious chapter to our glorious history. Establishing a Saudi university with all its colleges, institutes and laboratories, built according to the highest of standards, is my immediate concern.” In 1957, according to the dictates of the Royal Decree No.