Abu Dhabi’s The National has an excellent piece on King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The article notes the various ways the university differs not only from other Saudi universities, but from international universities as well, e.g. no tenure system and the lack of traditional academic departments.
Controlled experiment
Can a new research university save the Saudi economy and transform a closed society? John Gravois on the birth of KaustIn a bustling harbour just north of Jeddah one recent morning, a white 27-metre diving yacht was nosing its way slowly toward the open Red Sea. It was a gorgeous blue day, and the marina was teeming with families – young boys running around in swimming trunks; girls clustered at the margins, garbed from head to toe in black. Saudi youths on jetskis were swarming around the yacht, using its wake to launch themselves in the air and perform various tricks. The boat’s passengers, however, were absorbed in sombre discussion.
They were academic scientists who had recently converged on Jeddah from all over the world, and they naturally fell into trading reports of the shocks their profession had sustained in the global recession. One of the scientists was regaling the others with the latest dismal news from the United States, where the University of California system, one of the country’s most prestigious networks of research universities, was enduring an emasculating set of cutbacks.
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The article points out that the focus of the university is very much Saudi-oriented. It will be addressing problems that are, if not Saudi-specific, at least of great concern for the Kingdom, including such things as solar power, desalination, and Red Sea research.
… In the realm of higher education, the institutional structure of Kaust is similarly otherworldly. For starters, the all-science university has done away with two of academia’s sacred touchstones: traditional academic departments, and tenure. Rather than departments, Kaust is organised around problems – specifically, Saudi Arabia’s problems. Hence, rather than a physics and a chemistry department, Kaust has a Solar and Alternative Energy Science and Engineering research centre and a Water Desalination and Reuse research centre. Several of the university’s nine research centres are explicitly organised around developing sustainable technologies of the sort that might be particularly handy once the petrochemical economy has gone the way of the typewriter. And while some of Kaust’s projects – like its Red Sea research centre – are slightly more geared towards pure science, most of Kaust’s research centres were very much designed with industrial applications in mind. “They’re already aligned with the needs of the industry,” says Ahmad O al Khowaiter, the university’s interim vice president for economic development. Unlike at a traditional university where professors operate out of standardised academic departments, at Kaust, al Khowaiter says, “companies don’t have the challenge of trying to find who’s interested in their problems”.
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Overall, this is one of the best piece on KAUST that I’ve read. You might enjoy reading it in its entirety.
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October:17:2009 - 08:39
What an excellent article. Informative and balanced. Thanks for posting it John!
October:17:2009 - 08:39
“Controlled experiment” is a very good article. I don’t know is “controlled” is the right word. Controlled things can become uncontrolled very quickly and they are many in the region (inside SA itself) willing to help. I would think that it would be a very tempting target. The security director probably doesn’t sleep well at night.
Still it is an interesting idea.
Kactuz
It is an interesting experience.
October:17:2009 - 08:39
Excuse all the typos. Old age is not fun… I don’t know IF… and so on…
John, by the way, are you familiar with the Gypsy scholar blog?http://gypsyscholarship.blogspot.com/
I have run across you on other blogs so I know you have a certain ecletic taste. Hodges is always interesting and he covers a wide variety of subjects, but literature is his specialty.
Saudi arabia and Korea are as different as night and day, yet strangely they both face some similar problems. Both are looking to find their way in a changing complex world, with an eye on their neighbors.
Kactuz
October:17:2009 - 08:39
‘Eclectic’ or ‘catholic’… both apply. Thanks for the link to Gypsy Scholar; it does look like an interesting place. While East Asia isn’t my thing, exactly, he wanders around sufficiently to grab my attention.
I think all countries with firmly entrenched monocultures (Korea and the KSA count, in my book) are facing many of the same problems. Japan can be thrown in there as well. Dealing with ‘the other’ is only at the head of the list.
October:17:2009 - 08:39
If you think American’s are racist, you should heard reports of the dekasseguis in Japan. Many years ago I was close to some nisseis / sanseis in Brasil and they had friends/family that had returned to the home country. Good money but bad news. Japanese do not like foreigners, even japanese foreigners. Once in a while you see reports on TV Globo about their problems. In some stores or clubs there are even signs in Portuguese saying “No Brasilians allowed”. Now these are pure-blood japanese who just happen to speak funny and have strange customs like samba and futebol. SOmetimes these immigrants are even called kitani, not a very nice word. Sometimes the other is just a strange accent or a different opinion.
The human race sucks.
October:17:2009 - 08:39
Well, let’s just say there’s room for improvement…