Page 63 - EducationWorld August 2022

age of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — known as may eventually fall by the wayside”. “After all, KAUST was
MBS. “Given Neom’s close association with Crown Prince a King Abdullah-era project — with his name still buried
Mohammed bin Salman… it is likely to emerge as Saudi in the acronym — and MBS is known to have harboured
Arabia’s premier and best-resourced research institution,” a strong dislike and distrust of King Abdullah’s sons and
says Davidson, adding that, as a key component of the Vi- senior associates, with the most influential having been
sion 2030 strategy to reduce the country’s reliance on fossil targeted by MBS’ anti-corruption campaign.”
fuel extraction and diversify its economy, the university is Simon Marginson, professor of higher education at Ox-
likely to “be well-funded, and heavily promoted, both do- ford University agrees that Neom U has the potential to
mestically and internationally”. join the top tier of global research institutions. “As KAUST
Significantly, beyond Prof. Cangellaris, many of the key shows, if we judge ‘world-class’ in universities by the quality
players in the Neom U project are veterans who nurtured of the infrastructure, and by quality and quantity of leading
the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology faculty and researchers hired, which is the most important
(KAUST), until now the beacon of transformation of Saudi single element in the world-class university model, the Sau-
Arabia’s research sector, boasting a massive $10 billion en- di formula for building world-class universities can work,”
dowment, a mostly international student cohort, and the says Marginson.
country’s first mixed-gender campus. But he notes that, alongside concerns over freedom of
Nadhmi Al-Nasr, chief executive of the Neom project, expression and gender equality in Saudi Arabia, “questions
was KAUST’s interim president at its foundation and later remain” over other metrics for success. “How embedded
served as executive vice-president for administration and are the high-investment Saudi world-class universities
finance. Neom’s international steering council for educa- in the Saudi economy and culture? Isolating institutions
tion and research is chaired by Jean-Lou Chameau, former from society is not a viable strategy in the long term,” says
president of the top-ranked California Institute of Technol- Marginson, adding that universities cut off from their sur-
ogy (Cal Tech) who led KAUST between 2013-2017. roundings “create less social and economic value” and are
Although KAUST is involved in the development of less likely to be sustainable.
Neom, Dr. Davidson predicts that “though there will likely (Excerpted and adapted from €e Economist and Times
be cooperation and collaboration with…KAUST, the latter Higher Education)

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