Article 53 of the Saudi Law of Universities

المادة 53 من نظام الجامعات · الفصل الرابع عشر: أحكام عامة وختامية

Non-members may attend meetings of any council under the Law at the request of the council chairman, or of a member with the chairman's approval, to provide information and clarifications, with voting reserved to council members.

Official text (Arabic)

This article has not been amended since the law was issued.

يجوز حضور اجتماعات أي من المجالس المنصوص عليها في النظام بناء على طلب رئيس المجلس أو أحد الأعضاء بعد موافقة رئيس المجلس، ليفيدهم بما لديه من معلومات وإيضاحات، على أن يكون حق التصويت خاصا بأعضاء المجلس فقط.

This is the official Arabic wording, the only legally binding version. We do not translate the law itself; the explanation below is ours. Official source: Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers

Article 53 explained in plain English

This article sets a general rule that applies to all the councils provided for in the Law, such as the Universities Affairs Council, the Board of Trustees, the University Council, the Scientific Council and the college and department councils.

First: permission for non-members to attend

A non-member may attend the meetings of any of these councils in one of two ways:

at the request of the council chairman;
or at the request of a member, after the approval of the council chairman.

In both cases the last word belongs to the council chairman.

Second: the purpose of attendance

To inform the council of the information and clarifications he has. Attendance is not to take part in making the decision but to enlighten the council.

Third: voting

The right to vote belongs to council members only, so a non-member who attends does not vote.

The importance of this rule is that it allows councils to benefit from specialized expertise or from persons concerned with a particular subject, such as a technical specialist or an administrative official, without affecting the composition of the council or the result of the vote.

This article is linked to Article 52, which makes the connection of all university employees with the university under the Labor Law. Article 54 then provides that the language of instruction at the university is Arabic, with teaching in other languages permitted where necessary by decision of the University Council.

The article is organizational and does not give students or others direct rights.

Practical example

The council of a College of Engineering at a university is discussing a project to build a new laboratory, and a member asked that the university's projects engineer attend to explain the technical details. Under this article, he may attend with the approval of the council chairman, to provide the council with the information he has, without having a right to vote.

Translated from our Arabic explanation with machine assistance. For guidance only; it does not replace advice from a lawyer on your situation.

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