Saudi Arabia opens university for 50,000 women

Updated on: Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has inaugurated a state-of-the-art university for women, claimed to be the worlds largest with a capacity to enroll 50,000 students.

Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University (PNU), 25 km east of the Saudi capital of Riyadh, has been built at a cost of USD 5.3 billion (20 billion Saudi riyals) and is part of an ambitious education plan of the Saudi government.

Authorities said the universitys residential area has about 1,400 villas and hostel facilities to accommodate 12,000 students, a sports city for girls and major facilities complying with environmental guidelines.

The new campus also includes a 700-bed university hospital, 15 colleges, a conference hall, laboratories and three research centers for nanotechnology, information technology and bioscience.

The university has a research centre and a library with about five million books and journals.

Following its inauguration, the Saudi King and other senior officials boarded a university train for a tour of the sprawling campus, which sits on a site that exceeds 800 hectares, local media reports said.

The highlight of the transport system is an elevated railway that will facilitate the smooth flow of traffic inside the campus.

Saudi Arabia opens university for 50,000 women

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