Abdullah bin Omar Bafail, the president of Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah

Abdullah bin Omar Bafail
Updated 27 September 2019
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Abdullah bin Omar Bafail, the president of Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah

Abdullah bin Omar Bafail has been the president of Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah since March 2018. Before that, he was the vice dean for graduate studies and scientific research, and the vice president of the projects department at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah.

Bafail has served at numerous positions at King Abdul Aziz University for the past 40 years; he first joined the university as a lecturer at the faculty of engineering in 1979.

Ten years later he became an assistant professor at the industrial engineering department, then an associate professor in 1997, and a professor in 2006.

Bafail was a member of the probability and statistics studies group at the industrial engineering department between 1990 and 1994 and the head of the same research group between 1995 and 2018.

Moreover, Bafail served as an adviser to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Savola Group, a Saudi Food retail sector company, and other public and private entities.

Bafail holds a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Arizona State University, in the US. He received his master’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and his bachelor’s degree in systems engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

In his speech at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah to mark National Day Bafail said that this is a chance for citizens to remember the achievements and successes as a nation.


UAE’s Sheikh Tahnoon ‘welcome anytime’: Saudi media minister

Saudi Minister of Media Salman Al-Dossary (L) and Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (R). (Supplied)
Updated 29 January 2026
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UAE’s Sheikh Tahnoon ‘welcome anytime’: Saudi media minister

  • Sheikh Tahnoon “comes to the Kingdom whenever he wants without permission; it is his home and its leadership is his family,” the Kingdom’s media minister wrote on X

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Media Minister Salman Al-Dossary refuted on Wednesday allegations circulating on social media that the Kingdom has denied entry to the UAE’s National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed.
“What is being circulated about the Kingdom refusing to receive His Highness Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed is incorrect. His Highness comes to the Kingdom whenever he wants without permission; it is his home and its leadership is his family,” the minister wrote on X.
Sheikh Tahnoon is the Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and brother of the UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Tuesday that while there had been a “difference of view” between the two countries over Yemen, their relationship was “critically important” for regional stability.
“The Kingdom is always keen on having a strong, positive relationship with the UAE as an important partner within the GCC,” he said.
He said the UAE’s withdrawal from Yemen served as a “building block” for the relationship with the Emirates to continue strong.
Last month, Yemen’s internationally recognized government asked the UAE to withdraw its forces from the country after the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) that it supported seized large areas in the south and east.
The Saudi-led military Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen said on December 30 that it had conducted a “limited” airstrike against shipments of smuggled weapons destined to the STC.
The UAE defense ministry said it completed a full withdrawal from Yemen on January 2.