Dr. Muhammad Hayyan Al-Hafiz

The idea of scientific research chairs is based on the partnership between the academic institution and a personality or entity outside it, to support and develop a specialized scientific field, so that this personality or entity provides the necessary funding for that while the academic institution undertakes the creation of the research environment necessary for the success of the chair, in addition to supervising the chair's performance of its tasks and achieving its als. Research chairs are distinct scientific initiatives framed by time and assigned to one of the distinguished scientists in a specific scientific field to conduct in-depth and pioneering applied research in a way that benefits the economic and social sectors in societies.

The Japanese Experience:

Japan began its experience in research chairs in 1987 AD. The research chair in Japanese universities relies on economic support and donations from the supporters of the chair, and these supporters perform organizational supervision over the program, and the chair holder seeks to achieve the als of the university hosting the chair.

Chair programs in Japan enjoy growing success, as the funding resulting from research chairs is almost equivalent to the vernment funding for research projects in universities and centers in Japan, and it is known that Japan is one of the countries in the world after the United States in funding research.

The American Experience:

The American experience is characterized by the diversity of funding sources, where financial support for research chairs comes from economic institutions and from fundraising, and from some countries like Japan and even from the budgets of the universities themselves to support scientific research and improve their performance and ranking, especially since American universities are considered in themselves economic institutions with an educational and social dimension.

Funding for a single chair ranges between one million and five million dollars, but it reaches (50) million dollars in special cases.

Also, research chairs can be assigned without being restricted to a specific period if the chair was established to immortalize the name of a scientist or businessman who has passed away, and the American vernment has no connection with research chair programs neither in terms of planning and supervision nor in terms of funding.

The European Experience:

European experiences are older than global experiences, and funding depends on personal relationships between the funder and the university or research center without interference from the state. This applies to countries like Britain and Germany, however France changed its policy since 1991 AD as the French vernment established a research center (The French University Institute) that annually assigns forty research chairs in the field of basic sciences such as mathematics, physics, computer and medicine.

This vernment program is complementary to the old program which focuses on applied research for economic institutions in the American way, and thus the French experience became a mixture of the American and Canadian experiences.

The deduction of reports, publications and documents displayed by research chair programs in Saudi universities shows them to describe themselves addressing the community whether through their websites or through various media, a set of features and affirmations dealing with the starting points and als as strategies and methods of work as mechanisms for implementation, and the rights and duties of different parties as means for promotion.

From the starting point, we find that international experiences in research chair programs such as those programs in the United States of America, European countries and Canada gave a method for building programs in Saudi universities. The Canadian experience, which is considered one of the most famous national projects globally, was an inspiration for formulating the Saudi experience in terms of growth and expansion in programs but not in terms of mechanisms of work and funding, where we find that Saudi research chair programs differ from the Canadian experience from the point of view of sponsorship, funding and centralization. While the Canadian experience was directed nature (centralized) aimed at expansion in research chairs through a unified national project, the Saudi programs relied heavily, despite the similarity in terms of expansion, however parts of the working methods in Saudi programs such as sponsorship and funding make them closer to those found in the United States of America and some experiences in Europe than the Canadian experience.

To support these research programs, other aspects must be enhanced that beyond the vernment framework such as: independence and oversight, and quality standards, all of which will lead to the activation of the methods and means followed for the arrangements of these projects and mechanisms for monitoring and implementation applied in international experiences because of the quality of sponsorship and funding, as it is necessary to think seriously about the extent of the need for a coordinating body and determining the nature of this body.

There must also be cooperation between universities in exchanging experiences and expertise in managing research chair programs, especially since there are universities that have accumulated expertise and experiences that can be benefited from, and save costs and effort on others.