The US top three universities — Texas at Austin, California at Berkley, and Stanford University — have signed a five-year partnership with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) to be established in Saudi Arabia.

The New York Times reports that under this new agreement, the three universities will help pick the faculty and develop the curriculum for the yet-to-be built Kaust university.

Over the five years, each university will receive a $10 million gift, $10 million for research on their home campus and $5 million for research at Kaust, as well as administrative costs.

According to The New York Times, over the past five years all partner universities will receive $10 million in addition to the $5 million to be given to each university for undertaking research at Kaust.

The paper also quotes Dr. Albert Pisano, the chairman of Berkeley’s mechanical engineering department, commenting on the university’s partnership.

“The agreement will allow us to improve our facilities here in California, and fund a stream of graduate students, without taxing our existing infrastructure. We’re going to work on projects that are good for the Middle East and for California, like energy sources beyond petroleum, improved water desalination, and solar energy in the desert.”

Kaust has reportedly partnered with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, the National University of Singapore, the American University of Cairo, the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Photo: © Paraflyer

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