The University announced last week that it will join a team of other schools to lay out plans for a new science and technology center in Saudi Arabia. Engineering Prof. Peter Glynn praised Stanford’s potentially positive impact on the nation that has received wide public criticism for its strict laws, particularly in regards to women.

The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), located 50 miles north of the commercial capital Jeddah, is expected to admit its first class in Sept. 2009. Each affiliated university will aid in faculty recruitment and development of curriculum at KAUST. The university’s campus, however, is still under construction, and faculty recruitment is at an early stage.

Glynn, who has been involved in the project, emphasized that, despite Saudi Arabia’s conservative social and religious environment, KAUST would not discriminate in its selection of faculty or students.

Glynn added that, as the first private university in Saudi Arabia, KAUST would not fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education. The program will allow men and women to mingle freely, to learn and to conduct research in the same classrooms and laboratories.

“This particular university has unusually open standards in recognizing that this kind of institution works best by not discriminating on the basis of race, religion and gender,” Glynn said.

Glynn acknowledged that Saudi Arabia’s conservative political and social climate might set back faculty recruitment but said that KAUST has financial incentives to entice distinguished professors from around the world.

“This university will be able to pay extremely well,” Glynn said. “The king himself donated $10 billion, and there’s additional fundraising that goes beyond that.”

KAUST’s massive endowment — larger than that of schools’ like Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — will also be used to recruit undergraduates. According to Glynn, undergraduates accepted into the KAUST program will have the remainder of their entire undergraduate education paid off under an agreement by which they must continue to pursue either a scholarship-funded master’s degree or Ph.D. at KAUST.

“It’s a really creative and innovative way to open the university with a strong cohort of students,” Glynn said.

Glynn noted that raising educational standards and creating a world-class institution for science and technology could have a transformative effect on the region, encouraging greater cross-cultural interaction through the participation of a diverse pool of undergraduates.

“Our goal is to have a positive impact on Saudi Arabia and the region,” said Glynn. “For many [partner institutions] what has attracted their interest is having a long term impact on Saudi Arabia.”