Article 10 of the Saudi Law of Universities

This article sets out the role of the General Secretariat of the Council of University Affairs, the supporting body that enables the Council to carry out its work. It has six competences:

1. Supporting the Council in its work and responsibilities, preparing its studies, and providing the data and information needed for taking its decisions and following up their implementation.
2. Preparing for the meetings of the Council and the committees emanating from it.
3. Preparing the agendas of the Council's meetings and notifying members of them.
4. Notifying the Council's decisions to the bodies concerned and following them up.
5. Coordinating with other government bodies on matters relating to the Council's work.
6. Carrying out the administrative and financial work of the Council.

It is clear from these competences that the Secretariat does not take decisions, but prepares for them and follows up their implementation. The decision remains with the Council of University Affairs, which under Article 1 is the authority competent to regulate the affairs of universities, set their policies and issue the regulations governing them.

The importance of the fourth competence for universities and the bodies concerned is that the Council's decisions reach them through the Secretariat, which also follows up their implementation.

The article is linked to Article 9, which provides that the Council has a secretary general assigned by order of the Prime Minister on the nomination of the chair of the Council, and that an operating program budget is allocated to its secretariat within the budget of the Ministry of Education. Article 11 then introduces a new subject, the university board of trustees, which each university has, and whose chair, deputy and members, other than the university president, are assigned by order of the Prime Minister for three years, renewable once.

The article is organizational and does not create direct rights for students or university staff.