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New University in Saudi Arabia (note news added 9/29/09 below)

This article below in today’s NY Times details how King Abdullah of 
Saudi Arabia is trying to built a new University of Science and Technology
outside the traditional constraints of Arabic religion and customs. 
Worth a look and food for thought with respect to problems of Chinese 
S&T education and development.

NYTimes 10/26/07:
Saudi King Tries to Grow Modern Ideas in Desert
By THANASSIS CAMBANIS
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is staking $12.5 billion on a
bid to catch up with the West in science and technology.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/world/middleeast/26saudi.html?th&emc=th

By the way, I’ll be traveling and only infrequently e-mail and Internet accessible for the next 15 days. So long for now.

(Note added 9/23/09

The Financial Times (9/23, England) reports that Saudi Arabia has been working constantly over the past two years to prepare for the opening of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, a postgraduate-level research institution which is scheduled to be inaugurated by King Abdullah today. The university has formed a number of partnerships with respected research institutions around the world, including Oxford and Cambridge, MIT, Stanford, UC-Berkeley and the University of Tokyo, among others.

        The AP (9/23, El-Tablawy) reports that KAUST is "a new research university, a multibillion dollar coed venture built on the promise of scientific freedom in a region where a conservative interpretation of Islam has often been blamed for stifling innovation." The university will feature "state-of-the-art labs, the world's 14th fastest supercomputer and one of the biggest endowments worldwide," and "is poised to officially open its doors Wednesday on a sprawling campus nestled along the Red Sea coast about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the commercial center of Jeddah." The school was envisioned "as a key part of the kingdom's plans to transform itself into a global scientific hub," but it also "has the potential to represent one of the clearest fault lines in a battle between conservatives and modernizers in the kingdom." Notably, KAUST "will not require women to wear veils or cover their faces, and they will be able to mix freely with men."