Assessment of the outstanding Saudi university students' skills development programme

The purpose of the current paper is to assess the outstanding university students' skills development programme, which was conducted in UK, New Zealand and Ireland by the Saudi Arabian Ministery of Higher Education, during the summer period of the academic years 1428-30 H. (2007-9 G.). Via a participatory assessment approach, the study draws the answers for two vital questions aiming to examine the strengths and shortcomings of a number of perspectives of the programme, and whether or not the proposition is recommended to be proceeded in the future. An approach of triangulated methodology was carried out to gain the intended answers. Four different instruments were used to collect, both, qualitative and quantitative data from three distinct resources, all to spot a single target, i,e, assessing the programme. All in all the data analyses confirm that the programme is, in general, constructive, gains several fundamental advantages, and supports the outcome of the higher educational system in Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, however, the time for preparation was obviously insufficient, which limited the quality obtained. The core recommendation is to maintain the programme, but with an adequate time allowed for preparation, as well as, with higher quality input of development skills based on the trainees' needs analysis.