Dr. Mahdi bin Ali Al-Qarni has been appointed to take over at the University of Bisha (UB) when the term of its president, Dr. Ahmed Naqadi, has ended. The announcement was made on Wednesday in an order issued by Saudi Education Minister Dr. Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Asheikh. Al-Qarni gained a bachelor’s degree in Arabic language from Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in 1990 and seven years later a master’s degree in the same subject from Umm Al-Qura University. In 2001, he obtained a Ph.D. from the university in the same field of study. He has held a number of academic and administrative positions and worked as a rector at Jeddah’s Teachers’ College between 2003 and 2009. In August 2010, Al-Qarni was tasked to oversee the Bisha campus of King Khalid University (KKU) for five years and in 2015 was assigned as vice dean for graduate studies and scientific research at the UB. In October 2018, former minister of education, Dr. Ahmed Al-Issa, appointed Al-Qarni as a vice president of the UB for three years. He has also been a member of numerous scientific academic councils and committees, has taken part in many local, regional, and international conferences, and has had a range of books and scientific research published in different peer-reviewed journals. The UB was formed after a royal decree in 2014 had stated that UB would bring together KKU’s branch in Bisha and other colleges in neighboring principalities. There are 17,000 students at the UB majoring in 40 academic fields and they are taught by 1,200 teaching staff of varying nationalities.