Arab Educational Information Network

This study aims to identify the reality of governance application in Saudi state universities, and the constraints of its application from the perspective of the university board members. In order to achieve the goals of the study, the descriptive approach was used where a questionnaire was designed to collect the required data. The questionnaire consists of two parts; the first part consists of 45 statements distributed over five dimensions (Authorities and administration, Accountability, Autonomy, Transparency, and Participation), while the second part consists of 15 statements to identify the obstacles. The participants in the study were (51), a number which represents (25%) of (204) board members of the following state universities: King Saud University, King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals, Um ALQura University, Taibah University, and Hail University. The findings of the study show that university board members perceived the reality of governance application in public Saudi universities in general to be moderate. The main constraints of governance application are the centralization in Saudi higher education, and the lack of financial and administrative autonomy and academic freedom. (Published abstract)