The NYT recently published an interesting article about the new academic initiative launched by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. He is planning to build the most advanced university in the Arab world with the stated purpose of catching up with the Western science and technology.
The Jidda-based King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or Kaust, is scheduled to open in September 2009. It will be a graduate research institution created with the investment of $12.5 billion and the endowment of over $10 billion — one of the largest in the world. But the envisioned model of study is even more attention-catching than these huge financial outlays. Unlike in other Saudi educational institutions, here different religious and ethnic groups will be able to attend, and men and women will be allowed to study together (traditionally, they enter classrooms through separate doors, follow lectures separated by partitions, and female students can meet with male advisers only in public “free zones” such as the library). Still, the university is to remain a closed enclave separate from the rest of the Saudi society, which is governed by much stricter rules of Islamic law.
The university’s website states that “KAUST will lead the world toward a constructive, interdependent and hopeful future by encouraging critical collaborations between East and West and, at the same time, continue a tradition of scholarly inquiry dating back to ancient Islamic institutions of learning such as the House of Wisdom.”
But can it live up to such ambitious goals and become Saudi Arabia’s showcase of modernization? What seems most problematic is the tension between the university’s liberal rules meant to enable academic freedom and the traditional restrictions present in the Saudi educational system. The aforementioned social conventions are to be relaxed at Kaust. However, many other practices common in Saudi universities raise questions about Kaust’s ability to conduct teaching and research freely. They include supervision over the curriculum by the Islamic authorities, uneasiness around controversial subjects such as stem cells or evolution, and stifling governmental red tape.
Another problem is the degree to which this new institution can be regarded as “Saudi” or “Arab” in any meaningful sense, given that at least initially the overwhelming majority of the faculty (including the university president) and the student body will be comprised of foreigners. On a deeper level, this problem will persist even when – as planned – the share of Saudi students will increase over time. Namely, given the isolation of the university from the rest of the Saudi society, it’s not clear what influence it can have on free thinking and nurturing the spirit of innovation outside its walls.
Even the supporters of the project
- wonder whether the king is simply building another gated island to be dominated by foreigners, like the compounds for oil industry workers that have existed here for decades, or creating an institution that will have a real impact on Saudi society and the rest of the Arab world.
Can Kaust have it both ways and be an open-minded internationally-connected institution without greater openness of the Saudi society as a whole?
Published Date: October 29, 2007