Attitude and Awareness of Undergraduate Students towards the Significance of Museums in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on undergraduate students’ attitudes toward and the extent of their awareness of museums in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, linking these to education, the Saudi museum system, and Saudi Vision 2030. The aim of this study is to explore how successful education, museums, and Saudi Vision 2030 are in communicating museum culture to the public in general, and to undergraduate students in particular. The conclusion reached by this dissertation was that, unfortunately, Saudi undergraduate students lack awareness about museums, although they do recognize their importance. In fact, education in general, and Saudi universities in particular, do not contribute towards raising students’ awareness of museums. There is a slight contribution by Saudi universities to do so, but students typically do not receive these efforts. In addition, the majority of Saudi museums and their interpretations have contributed to a lack of communication between the public and the Saudi museum system, and this has resulted in a general reluctance among the public to visit museums. However, with the introduction of Saudi Vision 2030, the government has begun to focus on matters related to Saudi culture and heritage for economic purposes by integrating them into tourism, and in addition to enhancing the Saudi tourism economy, the contributions of Saudi Vision 2030 are helping to raise community awareness of museums. Therefore, unlike education and the museums themselves, Saudi Vision 2030 is raising societal awareness of museums in Saudi Arabia.