X. Strategic Area 7: Research & Innovation

Objective 1: Develop Diversified Research Impact in Areas of National and International Priority

Number of national, and international research partners

Percentage of national and international partnered research/total research output

Monitor and Respond to National Policy on International HE Regarding Research

• Scan, on a yearly basis, the possible updates of research by checking the governmental research related institutions (i.e., KACST, RDO, SAIP).

• Design a timeline to review research related policies, and update if needed.

Objective 2: Consolidate Research Achievements

Increase

Identify and establish focused research relationships with national and international partners

KPI-I-21 Proportion of external funding for research to the total College research budget

The degree of international diversity in terms of partnered international research network is as: Formula = (Number of partners -1)/ln (number of collaborated research output)

Percentage of collaborative research to the total research output

LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR OTHERS: FACULTY

Extend integration of undergraduate PSY students in published research

Increase researcher productivity

Proportion of undergraduate students with a) at least one refereed publication during their study) presented paper in a conference to the total number of students during the year. (KPIPG-18)

KPI-I-17 Rate of published research per faculty member

KPI-I-18 Citation’s rate in referred journals per faculty member

Number of Scopus/ISI publications over the 5 years.

LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR

OTHERS: DEAN/DGSR

LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR

OTHERS: DEAN/DGSR

LEAD: DGSR

Monitor and respond to national policy on international HE regarding research

Actions by Initiatives

Percentage of operational steps completed LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR OTHERS: FACULTY

Identify and Establish Focused Research Relationships with National and International Partners

• Review policies and procedures related to research for faculty participation in national and international seminars and workshops.

• Promote research collaboration by enhancing PSY visibility through national media communication.

• Scan, identify and collaborate with possible opportunities for national, regional and international research partners.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of the research partnership and set the new goals for next cycle.

• Prioritize fund-raising efforts through collaborative research proposals targeting national and international funding organizations and businesses.

• Develop capabilities to raise funds (5% from the total research budget not less than 500 K SAR) through external sources by targeting national and international funding organizations.

• Support Faculty in identifying external sources of funding to supplement funding from the University, thus ensuring their financial autonomy.

• Assisting faculty with the process of writing proposals for funding by, among other things, organizing proposal writing workshops, marketing the capabilities of EU Researchers among the funding agencies, and incentivize EU Researchers for networking.

• Delegate responsibilities to the most credible names within the research faculty to write proposals for funding.

• Identify PSY research clusters and link them to the activated research partnerships nationally, and internationally.

Improve research impact

Actions by Initiatives

Increase Proportion of Active Researchers

Number of Scopus publications per year

KPI-I-19 Number of patents, innovations, and awards of excellence per year

OTHERS: DEAN/DEPT. CHAIRS

• Foster the recruitment of leading national and international scholars, leading in their respective fields of research (postdoctorates, scholars on sabbatical, retired scholars as they can contribute through their experience).

• Offer adequate compensation or incentives for the active researcher, based on the research projection.

• Conduct regular workshops and meetings to promote collaborations between EU faculty with active researchers.

Extend Integration of Graduate Students and

Programs in Published Research

• Promote the process of involving PG students in research publication by co-authoring with their faculty.

Increase Researcher Productivity

• Focus further in the faculty recruitment on candidates with a proven track record in research.

• Aid new researchers and early careers in the process of publications and grant proposal writing.

• Provide adequate internal seed funding (Internal Financial Support) to increase the research productivity of active scholars.

• Allow teaching release time for very active researcher whenever possible to spend the needed time on research production.

Improve Research Impact

• Raise awareness for internal cross citations.

• Facilitate the university support for open access publications to increase the opportunity of citations.

• Indexing Effat Journals to help in increasing the number of indexing citations.

• Empower faculty to publish with top 2% (highly cited) scholars.

• Spread the research advancements made by EU researchers through effective PR communication, both internally and externally.

• Establish a regular newsletter to highlight and celebrate the achievements of EU researchers.

• Create awareness of research activities on EU website and blogs as a gesture of promoting research culture both within and outside the university.

• Instill and grow a strong research culture amongst all departments to bolster research output through support and motivation to the researchers.

• Encourage Effat University Faculty & Students to produce quality research by providing variety of venues (Indexing Effat Journals/Proceedings, incentive systems, Editing Office Services).

• Maximize the opportunities for faculty to collaborate with highly cited researchers.

• Develop capabilities to increase the production of IPs, patents, and innovations through the establishment of an intellectual property office in the university.

• Support PSY faculty, students & researchers to obtain external research awards across various fields and categories.

Objective

3: Promote the Research Environment

Actions by Initiatives

Establish Endowed/Named Research Chairs

• Identify research strengths and opportunities of the university and develop plans for scientific chairs.

• Scan, identify and collaborate with governmental and/or institutional bodies for the selected research areas.

• Address potential donors/ sponsors for research chairs.

• Manage the chairs and evaluate their effectiveness.

Utilize Existing Research Labs /Units /Centers

• Enhance the research environment and infrastructure to increase the research productivity through effective use of state-ofthe-art research laboratories, research centers, online databases and resources such as Scopus, Thompson Reuters Web of Science, and software for both qualitative and quantitative research.

• Evaluate the satisfaction of the users of research facilities and equipment.

Risk Management

The following table indicates the key risks associated with each strategic recommended area and a corresponding mitigation plan for every risk:

Topic

Research collaborations

Research Output & Alignment to National Objectives

Competitive space to get grants and funding from external sources

Financial constraint, lack of resource and skill

Mitigation Plan

Increase credibility of PSY research

Enhanced communication and marketing to get PSY out there in the public space thereby enhancing visibility

Focus on high ROI through spends to hire more resource

Conduct training workshops to develop skill Focus on winning grants and getting funded

XI. Strategic Area 8: Community Engagement

Objective 1: Institutionalize Community Engagement Governance

Establish coordinated approach to community engagement (Partnership and Agreement)

Increase memberships with wellknown organizations

Promote consultancy services

Actions by Initiatives

Number of partnerships and agreements per year LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR

OTHERS: DEAN/DGSR

Number of memberships per year LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR

OTHERS: DEAN/DGSR

Number of consultancy opportunities offered per year LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR

Identify and Establish Focused Research Relationships with National and International Partners

• Develop, review and implement policies for community engagement relations.

OTHERS: DEAN/DGSR

• Nurture and continue community engagement activities both locally and internationally through constant communication with organizations in the community, showcasing the mutual benefits that can be achieved by partnering.

• Develop relationships with the community leaders by inviting them to the PSY for their expertise and problem-solving abilities.

• Focus on developing agreements and partnerships with key government, economic and service sectors, to support the sustainability of environmental resources.

• Increasing the awareness hereabout the important of community engagement.

Increase Memberships with Well-known Organizations

• Evaluate the current PSY memberships and recommend the renewal of efficient ones.

• Scan, identify and activate new membership opportunities with prestigious national/international organizations.

Promote Consultancy Services

• Assess consultancy needs of the market, develop the marketing plan to promote consultancies, and implement & analyze the effectiveness based on the market study.

Actions by Initiatives

Establish a PACE-HIT Training Center and Programs

• Finalizing all the required process to authorize PACE-HIT.

• Align the PSY training programs to the economic development, job creation to support Saudi Vision 2030.

• Develop, and license the identified training programs by the TVTC.

Offered Professional and Certified Training

Improve quantity of community engagement activities: volunteering activities, Conferences, events, workshops, sports, webinars industropedia, etc.

Actions by Initiatives

Improve Quality of Community Engagement Activities

KPI-I-22 Satisfaction of beneficiaries with the community services

Number of volunteering hours/PSY Faculty and students per year

Number of Conferences, events, workshops, and webinars per year

DEAN/DGSR

Improve quality of community engagement activities KPI-I-23 Rate of community programs, projects and initiatives LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR

LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR OTHERS: FACULTY

• Design, and approve an offering plan for the training programs, implement a recruitment plan for the training programs to achieve the projected number of trainees, and evaluate the results of the plan to modify and enhance the offering plan.

• Review, update and enhance the quality of the community engagement activities.

• Increase the engagement level of students, faculty, staff and alumni in quality community engagement activities to nurture the culture within the university..

Improve Quantity of Community Engagement Activities: Volunteering Activities, Conferences, Events, Workshops, Sports, Webinars Industropedia, etc.

• Review the needs of the community to offer community engagement activities.

• Plan, and implement the annual community engagement activities (volunteering activities,

• Conferences, events, workshops, sports, and webinars).

• Evaluate the impact of the offered community engagement activities and plan for future improvement.

Objective 3: Provide Training with Community Partners

Objective 2: Engage with the Community (Activities, Events, and Exhibitions) Initiative

Establish a PACE-HIT training center and programs

Offered professional and certified training

2023 2024 2025 2026

Percentage of executed program s over the planned ones

Percentage of registered students from the projections

LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR

OTHERS: FACULTY

LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR OTHERS: FACULTY

Objective 4: Enhance Institutional Visibility

PSY Department’s contribution to MCPR/Media Center

Market PSY Program with all key external stakeholders

Develop revised social media presence

Promote the participation in external Awards opportunities for PSY Faculty and Students

Actions by Initiatives

PSY contribution to MCPR/Media Center:

Number of press releases by PSY per year

Number of new external stakeholders per year

Number of participations in Exhibitions per year

Number of solicitations per year

Number of new followers for each platform (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) per year

Number of reaches per post

Number of marketing campaigns per year

MarCom (Marketing & Communication) Planning Framework

The following is an integrated marketing and communication (IMC) framework followed widely around the globe because of its strong fundamentals:

LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR

OTHERS: MCPR

LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR OTHERS: FACULTY

LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR OTHERS: FACULTY

Number of external awards obtained LEAD: DEPT. CHAIR OTHERS: FACULTY

• Specify the function, tasks and responsibilities of PSY contribution to the media center.

• Develop and implement the annual plan of PSY contribution to the media center.

• Assess the impact of the implementation of the plan on the PSY Department’s visibility.

Market PSY with all Key External Stakeholders:

• Maintain and update PSY Program content and insights as per international standards to attract the best talent and connect with all external stakeholders.

• Expand PSY Department stakeholder network, categorize them and tailor-made communication strategy plan.

• Interact with the prospective students or their families through the chatbot to help resolving any query.

• Participate in major exhibitions to promote PSY Program.

• Scan, and identify, the solicitation opportunities in the market.

• Design a marketing plan to attract the attention of potential companies and evaluate its success.

Develop Revised Social Media Presence

• Intensify the presence of social media platforms such as Instagram, twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

• Enhance targeted ad-strategy to market the content on these social media platforms to increase the number of followers (Audience Growth) and post reach (impressions).

Promote the Participation in External Awards Opportunities for Effat University Faculty and Students

• Encourage the internal participation with awards and certificates to foster more participation.

Review of the marketing plan of PSY

Analysis of the communication process

Budget determination for the PSY Program

Develop integrated marketing communication program for the PSY Program

Integrate and implement marketing communications strategy for the PSY Program

Integrate and implement marketing communications strategy for the PSY Program

• According to the research conducted by IPSOS, digital marketing is the most accessed channel by both the UG and PG potential students, with Instagram and Twitter being the most popular social media venues explored by the potential students.

• The visual representation of the same is depicted below:

The following table indicates the key risks associated with each strategic recommended area and a corresponding mitigation plan for every risk:

Topic Risk Mitigation Plan

Institutionalize and Enhance Community Governance and Engagement

Assistance needed by the students engaging in community services

Lack of motivation for students and alumni to continue with community engagements

Financial constraints

Provide support to the students in the form of transportation, food, and guidance

Reward the service providers in the form of awards and certificates

Events can be done in collaboration with the local community bodies to reduce the financial burden on the university

Enhance PSY Visibility

Marketing team hiring constraints

Avail the services of an external marketing agency while slowing ramping up internal marketing capabilities