TAIF, 16 December 2002 — Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed will lay the foundation stone for Prince Sultan Private University in Taif on Jan. 28, according to Dr. Zuhair Al-Sibae, general supervisor of the university.
Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, who is the honorary president of the university, was recently briefed on the university which will have four colleges for medicine, nursing, health administration and health information management in the first phase.
Sibae said the finance committee met recently to review the tenders presented by companies to implement the project on a 250,000 square-meter area south of the sports stadium in Hawiya. He said studies at the colleges would start in September 2003.
A bank account has been opened with an initial investment of SR25 million to implement the project.
Prince Sultan has contributed SR10 million to conduct feasibility studies and prepare its initial designs.
“We have made plans for the university and its colleges in cooperation with the University of Arizona in the US and UNESCO and have presented its curriculum to the Higher Education Ministry for approval,” Sibae said.
Fouad Alauddin, a representative of Arthur Andersen, recently briefed Prince Sultan on the economic feasibility of the project while Basil Hasan, architectural consultant, gave him a presentation of the project.
A meeting held in the presence of Prince Sultan selected businessmen Abdul Rahman Faqeeh, Abdullah Al-Harithy and Yahya Bin Laden, Dr. Zuhair Al-Sibae and Dr. Abdullah Dahlan as members of the university’s board of trustees.
The Council of Ministers recently approved in principle a proposal to establish two private universities by converting Prince Sultan Private College and clubbing the private colleges of King Faisal Charitable Foundation.
The government gives top priority to education and manpower development. It has allocated SR57.5 billion for the sector in the 2003 general budget.
