Dr. Mohammed Al-Hayaza has been the president of Alfaisal University since March 1, 2015.
Al-Hayaza has a long experience in the field of education and he has championed academic excellence and research.
With a focus on domestic and global challenges, his initiatives bolstered opportunities for experiential learning, and secured funding for research and visionary ventures. These initiatives helped Alfaisal University gain a prominent position in the global rankings of universities — from one of the Top 800 (2017) to one of the Top 300 (2020) universities in the world according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
Within the Kingdom, the 2020 Times Higher Education Rankings ranked Alfaisal first in medicine, second in life sciences, and 2nd overall in both the Kingdom and in the Arab region.
Al-Hayaza began his career at King Saud University (KSU) in 1992 and left the KSU in 1999 as dean of the College of Education. In 1999, the newly opened King Khalid University appointed him dean of the College of Science. During his tenure at King Khalid University, he established the College of Engineering and the College of Computer Science and served as the acting dean of both colleges until his promotion to the vice president for postgraduate studies and research in 2002.
Prior to joining Alfaisal, Al-Hayaza served as the president of Jazan University from 2007 to 2014).
At the time of his appointment, Jazan University had only three colleges and 3,000 students but under his leadership, it expanded to 40 colleges with an enrollment of 70,000. Later, he was appointed as health minister in 2014. In 2015, Al-Hayaza got appointed to the Shoura Council, where he served until 2016.
He obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from KSU and earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Boston University in 1992.
