Nasr said that English would be the medium of instruction at the university. It will be modeled on such institutions as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University. Classrooms will open in September 2009, Al-Nasr said. The university's research agenda aims to accelerate scientific discovery and technological innovation, said Al-Nasr. “We are confident that since this university will work in close conjunction with other universities in Saudi Arabia — especially leading universities such as King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah and King Saud University in Riyadh — it will raise the level of research and technology,” he said. The interim president explained that the scholarship program is one part of a three-pronged strategy to build the university's intellectual capital. A second KAUST initiative is its Global Research Partnership, a program that provides support for, and collaboration with, leading scientific research centers and individual scientists around the globe, along with research and educational collaboration with leading institutions. --MORE
