The University of Saida is located in the 'City of Waters,' situated on the right bank of Wadi Saida, between the Atlas Mountains and Algeria's High Plateau. Its strategic location, approximately 100 miles from both Oran and Tiaret, and about 60 miles from Sidi Bel Abbas, made it a logical choice for a teacher training college in 1986.
It later became a university centre in 1998 and achieved full university status in 2006. By 2011, it had established faculties in letters, languages, and arts economic, commercial, and management science, science, technology, law and political science, and social science and humanities.
The university is named after Moulay Tahar, a respected doctor who played a significant role in Algeria's struggle for independence and practiced medicine until his passing in 1999.
The university, headquartered in the Hay al-Nasr district, serves approximately 14,000 students distributed across five sites in Saida. Priority for university accommodation is given to male students from at least 50km away and female students from more than 30km.
The University of Saida aims to become a leading hub for computer research in Algeria. It hosts annual JERI study days for the exchange of ideas, research, and projects and conducts studies on the introduction of distance and e-learning in Algerian universities. The university also launched the open-access Journal of Concepts in Structural Biology and Bioinformatics in 2022.
