SIEMENS

In September 2009 the world gained another elite university when King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) opened its doors to graduate students 80 kilometers north of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Covering 36 square kilometers along the Red Sea, the rambling university campus provides students with ideal learning conditions, including state-of-the-art labs for 11 courses of study. Researchers at the university can use one of the world’s fastest supercomputers - the Shaheen, which operates at 222 teraflops per second. Students live in fully air-conditioned dorms that include cafeterias, shops, and sports facilities.

KAUST, which still has room for more students, initially began its operations with approximately 70 professors, who had previously worked at various universities and research institutes around the world. Around 2,000 graduate and postgraduate students will soon begin to conduct their research projects under the supervision of a staff of 220 professors. The young scientists come from all over the world, and only 15 percent of the openings for students are reserved for Saudi nationals. KAUST is also the first educational institution in Saudi Arabia at which men and women are permitted to work together.

The academic programs offered by the new university include Environmental Science and Engineering, Material Science and Engineering, Bioscience, and Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences. “KAUST offers exactly those subjects that will help us to develop sustainable solutions for green technologies,” said Prof. Hermann Requardt, Chief Technology Officer and CEO of Siemens Healthcare, at the signing ceremony for a partnership agreement. Siemens is one of the founding members of the KAUST Industrial Collaboration Program (KICP), which will in the future promote industrial research partnerships in the region and worldwide. Like Siemens, the other KICP members, such as Boeing and General Electric, have operated in Saudi Arabia for many years. In addition to KICP, KAUST is also involved in various projects conducted by a research network that consists of renowned universities such as Stanford in California, Cambridge in the UK, and the Technical University of Munich in Germany.

Strong Commitment. The new university provides its industrial partners with access to the research being conducted on its campus. “Siemens will regularly take part in workshops and conferences that address topics that our researchers are working on,” announced Erich Kaeser, CEO of Siemens Middle East. Further benefits from the partnership between Siemens and KAUST include a continuous exchange of information between the faculty members, access to research programs, and contact to the best young scientists in the region. In this way, Siemens plans to further in tensify its 75-year involvement in Saudi Arabia, which covers the Industry, Energy, and Healthcare Sectors.

Siemens is already taking part in many infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia, for example, and almost all of the hospitals in the country use Siemens equipment. The company is currently planning to build a state-of-the-art power plant with an output of 900 megawatts. The plant will be equipped with flue-gas desulfurization technology and will treat around 880,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day for the cities of Jeddah, Mecca, and Taif. Siemens also offers training programs to many young Saudis and helps the government prepare young women for skilled professions.

Young people who wish to study at KAUST can apply after obtaining a bachelor’s or comparable degree. The tuition fees of about $60,000 per year correspond to those of other elite universities. However, a foundation established by the king of Saudi Arabia provides scholarships for many students, including some from abroad. The Saudi royal house has invested about $12.5 billion in the new university, and regards this as an important step toward making the country less dependent on oil. Other Arab countries have taken a similar approach, with the huge Education City in Qatar, for example, offering an academic program in cooperation with several U.S. universities, while the famous Sorbonne University in Paris has established a branch facility in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.