Jawhara Bint Fahd Al-Saud, rector of the Riyadh University for Girls, said the foundation stone for the new University City north of Riyadh will be laid soon under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Al-Riyadh reported. Princess Al-Jawhara said that the university will house three health colleges, namely the College of Nursing, the College of Pharmacology and the College of Physiotherapy as well as the College of Administrative Sciences, the Computer and Technology College, the Kindergarten College, the College of Science and the College of Languages and Translation. The University's plan was based on the Kingdom's strategic plan for the coming ten years and a survey to gauge the suitability of the new colleges for the Riyadh community. Princess Al-Jawhara said that the current colleges would be designed to match the needs of the job market. A college for Home Economics and another for Design and Art will also be created. King Abdullah dedicated 8 million square meters to the University. The land was originally part of plans for the Ministry of Defense and Aviation in the northern part of Riyadh. Princess Al-Jawhara added that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques will provide full financial and moral support to the project. She hopes the University will gain international recognition among academic organizations. The Princess said that today Saudi women are serving their country actively, with some earning international awards and excelling in specialties such as physics, chemistry. The Riyadh University has already starting communicating with local and international science universities in order to provide the best possible learning environment for the 1500 students, the Princess said. All administrative jobs for males and females will be filled by Saudis and that faculty will be made up of mostly Saudi instructors and professors, with each year more Saudis being recruited. The Princess called on Saudi females to observe the teachings of Islam and the values and customs which Islam promotes as well as satisfy their ambitions as decision makers. “We are required to provide for the needs of our country and to replace our brothers and sisters the expatriates and to reduce female unemployment which has recently grown,” she said.
