Article 40 of the Saudi Law of Universities

This article places an express obligation on every university relating to its quality: obtaining institutional accreditation.

The article has two elements:

• The nature of the provision: an obligation; the text says "the university must", so the matter is not left to the university's choice.
• The granting body: the Education and Training Evaluation Commission specifically.

Institutional accreditation relates to the university as a whole institution. This article does not set out the accreditation criteria, procedures or duration or the consequences of not obtaining it; the text does not address these matters and they should not be assumed.

Note the difference between this article and Article 41, which provides that the university works to achieve program accreditation from the Education and Training Evaluation Commission or from one of the international bodies it recognizes. The two articles differ in two respects:

• Scope: Article 40 concerns the institution as a whole, and Article 41 concerns programs.
• Wording: Article 40 says "must obtain", and Article 41 says "works to achieve"; and in Article 41 accreditation may come from an international body recognized by the Commission.

The importance of this article for students and parents is that institutional accreditation is an obligation on every university under the Law.

It is also linked to Article 39, which makes the department head responsible for managing the scientific, educational and research matters of the department and requires him to submit an annual report to the dean on its work.