The Impact of The New Governance Structure on Higher Education System in Saudi Arabia: An Institutional Perspective

Abstract

In 2016, the Saudi government introduced a new vision to improve its administration to many aspects of life in Saudi Arabia. One of these improvements is to reform the public sector. The aim of the reform is to enhance public sector efficiency and to reduce the financial waste. However, one of the reform projects is aiming to improve the higher education sector by reorganizing the governance structure. The idea of the reorganizing is to divide responsibilities and to enhance accountability and transparency, and to ensure the continuity and adaptability in the face of new challenges. Therefore, using an analytical framework, and from an institutional perspective, this study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the new governance structure on higher education efficiency. The objectives chosen is that to what extent the new governance structure can improve four principles: transparency, accountability, rational decision making, and horizontal and vertical coordination. Those principles were chosen as measures to administrative success. The result is that the administrative process was not significantly change which is still top-down process. I found that in order to the process inside the governance structure to be successful, it should be open, dynamic, and both from top-down and bottom-up. Moreover, transparency has not been clearly introduced and it should be enhanced by the parliament. Also, we found a complexity of the accountability relationship among all levels of the governance structure. Also, improving transparency can positively lead to make better decisions.