JEDDAH, 13 January 2003 — Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed will lay the foundation stone for a number of colleges specializing in Science and Technology in Taif on Jan. 22, according to Dr. Zuhair Al-Sibaie, the supervisor of the project.
The colleges will be located in Hawiya, close to King Fahd Sports City.
The new institutions will be open to students from Taif and the surrounding areas. Taif was chosen because of its moderate climate and the international trend to locate new colleges and universities in small towns and cities.
"There will be four colleges for medicine, nursing, health management and health information management in the first phase of the project," Sibaie explained.
He added these specializations have been selected because of labor market requirements and studies conducted by UNESCO and the University of Arizona.
Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation and the project’s honorary president, donated SR10 million for the feasibility studies.
"The feasibility studies conducted by an international company encouraged us to carry out the project," the supervisor stated.
He estimated the total cost of the project at SR200 million and anticipated that 5,000 male and female students would be enrolled during its first phase.
The students, who will be segregated according to sex and disciplines, will focus on the English language, computer training and modern learning devices in the first year. The charge will be SR24,000 for the first year. Charges for subsequent years have still to be decided.
Agreements have been signed by UNESCO, Manchester University in Britain, the Arab Gulf University in Bahrain and the Federation of American Universities to provide the new colleges in Taif with academic support.
