KU plans to establish a ‘holding company’

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 26: In an unprecedented step, Kuwait University has decided to establish a holding company, which would be a building block for future educational investments in the educational sector, reports Al-Qabas daily.

According to the official correspondence, the university’s Supreme Council recently approved the establishment of this company to be financially independent and owned by the university.

It was decided to form a working group to propose the strategic perspective of the company, its capital, its statute and organizational structure, provided that the proposal will be presented to the University Council at a later meeting.

In the context, informed sources explained that the establishment of this company as an economic entity for the university will transform the latter from a mere higher education institution to a leading educational institution. It will be able to manage educational and research companies and investments that will raise the academic level of the university, as well as provide the necessary resources.

In this regard, the holding company will be an economic entity that manages affiliated entities, for example, through which the university will be able to acquire or establish other educational institutions, or attract international educational entities, through the capital of the holding company.

The main objective behind establishing the holding company is for this entity to become financially independent and generate profits for the university in order to spend on the quality of education, which is a common practice in various prestigious universities. Also, this step would establish service economic entities, such as developing, consulting and training sectors at the university, and transforming it into academies. It will also be possible to invest in the university research sector, and even turn it into an industrial sector that transforms research into actual products, such as medicines and others, like many universities in the world.

The sources insisted that Kuwait University is qualified to be a leader again in the field of higher education in the region, but that it suffered in recent years from the reduction of its budget, adding that the establishment of an economic entity owned by the university will facilitate the revival of its educational leadership.