A BRIGHT new ray of hope was cast into the hearts of millions of women in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday when King Abdullah launched the SR20 billion Princess Nourah Bint Abdul Rahman Al-Saud Girls' University project in Riyadh. It will be Saudi Arabia's first state university for females, the world's largest at two million square meters of built-up area, and also perhaps the world's most ambitious in terms of its scope of bringing about, to borrow the Obama campaign theme, a timely “change we need” in Saudi Arabia. Women in Saudi Arabia have long been the quiet but inspirational voice of determination. Princess Nourah, for example, after whom King Abdullah has named the university, was the source of inspiration for King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Nourah, derived from “noor', which means “light”, was so dear to King Abdul Aziz that he would often identify himself as ‘the brother of Nourah' and even chant the same when embarking on his several successful battles to unify the Arabian peninsula. Now, with the new university, the ‘bearer of light' will embody the combined ambitions and potential of Saudi females who make up nearly 50 percent of the 23.6-million-strong population. The edge that Saudi women already have over Saudi men is clear in the fact that 58 percent of local university students are women. Though presently their contribution to nation building is dismal in comparison to their academic prowess accounting for only 12 percent of the total Saudi work force – their future remains increasingly bright nonethelsss given the steady pace of major policy changes initiated since King Abdullah came to the throne, to place women in the mainstream, both in government and business. Taken in the context of the bigger picture of Saudi Arabia's other ongoing mega development projects like King Abdullah City for Science and Technology and Madina Knowledge City, Princess Nourah Bint Abdul Rahman Al-Saud Girls' University, which will offer courses in medicine, pharmacy, management, computer sciences and languages, makes the perfect complement towards achieving King Abdullah's grand dream of a Saudi Arabia where men and women live up to the best of Islamic virtues and harvest the guaranteed riches that come with the power of knowledge. __
