During the last two years, PMU Information Technology Department (ITD) has developed to cater for the university evolution and its emerging needs. The department is in three main sections supporting the entire community. Students, faculty and employees have dedicated services center to facilitate the use of the applied technologies and applications. This section talks about some aspects of the departments services.
The PMU is synonymous with and identified as the leading IT-based institution in the international region. The ultimate goal of this technology vision is to make it possible for the PMU to create a learning-centered environment.
The infusion of technology into the university environment will enable students to obtain the information they need, when and where they need it, so they can effectively pursue their goals of academic excellence and professional competencies.
This vision is supported by underlying values and principles:
Information technology serves the mission of the university.
To the extent possible, IT will preserve Saudi values.
IT will serve to help protect intellectual property.
IT will be convenient, high-quality, and user-friendly.
IT will not consume an inappropriate portion of the PMU’s budget.
Though central to distinguishing the university from other institutions in the Kingdom, technology at PMU will never be an end unto itself. Technology will be a tool that assists students in building their professional competencies, abilities in critical thinking, skills in problem solving, and dedication to leadership and teamwork.
In order to achieve its vision of a technology-enabled, learning-centered environment, the PMU will develop a set of core technology competencies and areas of expertise:
Infuse information and educational technologies into all curricula and learning programs.
Ensure that the university administration will utilize an integrated management information system.
Incorporate IT into the facility design.
Focus IT services on employing contemporary technologies that keep up with the world’s changing technology environment.
Using technology, the PMU will be able to tailor instruction and focus the development of competencies to each student’s needs and abilities. It will be able to provide skills and knowledge that foster independent learning during the university years and build an ethic of learning that continues throughout the lives of PMU graduates. Technology will enable faculty to enhance their own abilities, create richer learning experiences by bringing more resources into the classroom, and give students a more interactive learning experience. It will help instruct students in personal skills and capabilities as well as academic content. Finally, technology will assist the university in creating an assessment process that not only measures what students already have achieved, but helps direct them to the capabilities they need to develop in the future.
The PMU will direct its efforts toward a number of targeted goals, each of which will bring the university closer to achieving its mission and realizing its vision.
Respect and advance Saudi cultural values in a changing learning environment.
Provide students with the superior technology infrastructure that will equip them with the technology skills to function in the current and emerging working environments.
Provide faculty with the superior technology infrastructure that enables them to excel in the delivery of effective instruction.
Provide administrators with a cost effective, flexible, reliable, and secure IT environment that meets the business needs of the university.
Provide technology tools to facilitate effective student support services.
Provide an IT governance structure that includes university faculty, students, and staff as well as industry in a collaborative environment.
Regardless of whether they are directed toward administrators, faculty, students, or the university community as a whole, each of these goals contains elements that will assist students in developing characteristic PMU competencies.
The university’s technology-infused environment will naturally develop information literacy and familiarity with technology itself. It will alsohelp students achieve skills in critical thinking and reasoning, a global awareness, and abilities in teamwork and leadership. These competencies are “whole person” skills that will make it possible for the individual student and the university to make valuable contributions to the business community and life in the Kingdom.
