The students were attacked by security forces and on 10 March held a sit-in calling for the rector Abdullah al-Rashid to resign.

[9] Abdullah al-Rashid was the elected or appointed president of King Khalid University[10] until 1 July 2012, during the 2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests, when he was replaced by Abdulrahman al-Dawood[9] following massive student protests in May and calls for his resignation.

[citation needed] Since its inception, the goal was to have King Khalid University operate at a single central location.

As part of the medical college, plans were made to build a public hospital which would have one of the largest bed capacities in the Middle East.

As one of the most prominent higher education infrastructure projects in the Kingdom, the competition attracted 28 regional, national, and international bidders.

To qualify for the bidding process, each company had to prove its capabilities in large scale construction.