A list of major instructional and laboratory equipment is provided in Appendix .C.
CRITERION 8. SUPPORT Program Budget Process
The COE departmental budget is part of the overall college budget. The COE departmental budget is mainly dominated by the laboratory budget that is submitted separately per the process explained in Criterion 7.2. Additional COE budget items include wages, travel, supplies, …, etc. In addition to the approved laboratory budgets presented earlier, Table 8.1-47 provides the departmental expenditures for the fiscal year 2008 for items other than lab equipment.
Table 8.1 47. Department expenditure (Fiscal year 2008).
|
Item
|
SR
|
Wages
|
5,222,543.29
|
Faculty & Staff Allowances
|
528,565.43
|
Travel
|
426,833.33
|
Supplies
|
308,832.60
|
Training
|
33,472.69
|
Advertisement
|
3,044.00
|
Total Expenditure
|
6,523,291.34
|
Sources of Financial Support
KFUPM is a fully supported government institution, with the entire budget coming from the Saudi government. Moreover, KFUPM also receives financial contributions from industrial institutions (mainly Saudi ARAMCO). However, such contributions amount to only a small fraction (less than 1%) of the government allocations. Thus, the main source of departmental financial support is from government allocations. Additional sources of departmental financial support come indirectly from faculty funded research grants and industry consultations.
Adequacy of Budget
As evident from Criterion 7.2 and Criterion 8.1, the COE department has adequate budget to continue updating and enhancing the labs, to achieve its program’s outcomes, and to support the faculty’s teaching and scholarly activities.
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As stated in Criterion 6.7 (Faculty Development), the faculty professional development efforts represent a prime objective of KFUPM administration and are manifested in the following two areas:
-
Academic Development, which is administered by the Deanship of Academic Development.
-
Research Development, which is administered by the Deanship of Scientific Research.
Funding allocated by the university is adequate for the needs of both deanships. Accordingly, both planned activities and allocated funding are adequate for the faculty professional development. Refer to Criterion 6.7 for further explanation on the KFUPM supported activities in this area, and how they are planned.
Support of Facilities and Equipment
The allocation of office space and laboratory facilities is the responsibility of the university office and housing department. On the other hand, the scheduling of classrooms is the responsibility of the university registrar. Moreover, the university maintenance department is responsible for all maintenance issues related to offices, laboratories, and classrooms other than computer or projector related issues. The university maintenance department accepts maintenance requests online as well as through an automated telephone system. As stated earlier, the computer or projector maintenance issues are the responsibility of the CCSE personnel, ITC personnel, and/or the university audio/visual department. Thus, the support of facilities and equipment is adequate to achieve program’s outcomes.
Adequacy of Support Personnel and Institutional Services
The COE department has two qualified secretaries to assess the department in all administrative aspects. Similarly, and as explained in Criterion 7.2, the COE department relies on the college Network/Computing services group for support on computing and networking facilities. Likewise, the COE department has a dedicated engineer to supervise the tasks of running, maintaining, and upgrading the various teaching and research laboratories at the department. Accordingly, the aforementioned personnel resources are adequate to meet the COE program’s outcomes.
Furthermore, the COE department and faculty rely heavily on the excellent resources and support facilities provided by the university. These include:
1. The Information Technology Center (ITC).
2. The Purchasing Department
3. The Maintenance Department
4. The Office and Housing Department
5. The Central Library.
The role of both the ITC and the purchasing department in supporting the COE department have been explained in Criterion 7.2. On the other hand, the role of both the maintenance department and the office and housing department in supporting the COE department have been described in Criterion 8.5.
With respect to the central library it is considered as a science and engineering library. Nearly 80% of its collection is related to the fields of science and engineering. The collection includes books, periodicals, proceedings, theses, reports, maps, charts, electronic resources, and audiovisual materials. The library has acquired a good number of electronic databases and Internet resources, and has established searching mechanisms for such databases. Faculty and students have Intranet and Internet remote access to almost all the databases using the library’s URL http://ww.kfupm.edu.sa/library/. The library provides assistance to the faculty and students in their search for information and library materials. Table 8.6-48 provides a summary of the library’s collection:
Table 8.6 48. KFUPM main library's collection.
|
Item
|
Quantity
|
Monographs (including proceedings) vols.
|
248,919
|
Periodicals (Bound)
|
82,411 volumes
|
Electronic Books
|
66,000 documents
|
Periodicals titles (subs)
|
668
|
Electronic Journals (Full texts and Bibliog.)
|
47,000
|
Electronic Documents (proceedings, reports, etc.)
|
1,889
|
Electronic Databases (Journals, books)
|
49
|
Microfilms
|
1,532 reels
|
Microfiche
|
1,517 reels
|
Media (audio, video, slides, maps, charts etc.)
|
4,986 pieces
|
More specifically, Table 8.6-49 provides a summary of the number of available books and bound periodicals in areas related to COE:
Table 8.6 49. Number of library items related to COE.
|
Item
|
Quantity
|
Computer Engineering
|
2,450
|
Information & Computer Science
|
11,479
|
Systems Engineering
|
5,175
|
Electrical Engineering
|
25,388
|
In addition, the library has 7,432 journals in databases and current subscriptions in the area of Computer Science and Engineering including 1,131 journals in databases and current subscriptions in the area of Electrical Engineering.
The library continuously expands its collection as shown in Table 8.6-50 that summarizes the amount of library expenditures for the years 2006-2008.
Table 8.6 50. KFUPM main library's expenditures (Fiscal years 2006 – 2008).
|
Deanship of Library Affairs
Expenditures Record for the years 2006-2008
|
Description
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
Total Library Current Funds
|
6,415,605
|
7,098,916
|
8,478,580
|
Expenditure for the Science and Engineering Unit (80% of total)
|
5,132,484
|
5,679,133
|
6,782,864
|
Books
|
716,985
|
476,026
|
890,503
|
Electronic Databases
|
1,528,612
|
2,606,999
|
3,433,053
|
Periodicals
|
2,752,232
|
2,506,990
|
2,427,943
|
Other expenditures (Interlibrary Loan, Shipping, Non-print materials)
|
134,651
|
89,116
|
31,367
|
The library has 32 professional and 29 para professional staff members with recognized library service training. The operating hours of the library are Saturday to Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Wednesday from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (for men) and 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Ladies), and Friday from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The library hours during exam periods are extended.
Another university service that was introduced recently is the KFUPM Portal System. The system has been launched as a university-wide enterprise automation system that facilitates access to global university information and services (IT issues, library, Research, Deanships, administration, etc.). The portal speeds up many faculty services including applications for conference attendance, submission and reviewing of research proposals, promotion applications, office and housing services, maintenance requests, and the processing of purchase orders.
Lastly, KFUPM offers an attractive compensation package for faculty, including tax-free salary, free furnished housing including all utilities, free annual air tickets, free medical care at KFUPM clinics and government hospitals, etc.
All previously stated institutional benefits provide sufficient and adequate services to the COE department to achieve its program’s outcomes.
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