SAUDI ARABIA: Country's first mixed-sex University divides opinion

Record ID: 188697

  • Title: SAUDI ARABIA: Country's first mixed-sex University divides opinion
  • Date: 28th September 2009
  • Summary: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (SEPTEMBER 28, 2009) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) JASIM AL-AQEEL, RIYADH RESIDENT, SAYING: "I support education, and frankly it is a great achievement in the era of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (King Abdullah), but as for the matter of (gender) mixing, I do not think our people will accept this from an Islamic point of view."
  • Embargoed: 13th October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Saudi Arabia
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Education
  • Reuters ID: LVA3ASV2TQRR65ZYFUOZHXAUJUJJ
  • Story Text: Nearly a week after the conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia opened its first co-educational university, opinion is divided on whether the country is ready for genders to mix.
    The university, in the western city of Jeddah, is a high-tech campus with massive funds which reformers hope will spearhead change in the Islamic state.
    Western diplomats hope the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), which has attracted more than 70 professors and 800 students from abroad, will stimulate reform after recent setbacks such as shelving municipal elections and cancelling cultural events opposed by clerics.
    Supporters are presenting KAUST as a tangible gain for the king's plans, which have included more long-term projects such as an overhaul of courts, the education system, and building "economic cities" to create jobs for the young population.
    One of the main goals is to produce Saudi scientists but so far locals, who had to compete in a tough admission process, make up only 15 percent of students coming from 61 countries.
    Business analyst at KAUST, Isra Nusair, said the gender issue should not pose a problem to concern conservatives in the country.
    "Talking about it being a mixed environment, it won't be a problem because it's a university and people here are learning and it's a professional place, so I'm sure people will accept it," she said.
    Located next to the Red Sea village of Thuwal north of Jeddah, the 36-square-mile campus has lured scientists from abroad with luxury packages and a life far from the reality of the Islamic state, where clerics have wide powers over society in an alliance with the Saudi ruling family.
    Unlike in other Saudi universities, male and female students can attend classes together and mix in cafes.
    With more than 70 green spaces, gyms, clinics, spacious residential districts and staff driving around in electric cars, there is no reason to leave the campus, which is far from the prying eyes of the religious police.
    But not everyone is in favour of the new centre for education. Jasim al-Aqeel, a resident of the capital Riyadh, says the idea is not in line with the state religion.
    "I support education, and frankly it is a great achievement in the era of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (King Abdullah) but as for the matter of (gender) mixing, I do not think our people will accept this from an Islamic point of view," he said.
    Women in Saudi Arabia enjoy far less rights in comparison to most of the Arab and Islamic world.
    KAUST is run by the state oil company Aramco, which has a similar liberal enclave at its headquarters in Dhahran on the Gulf coast. It is outside the control of the education ministry.
    Analysts and diplomats say it is the state education system that Saudi Arabia needs to reform.
    Abdullah al-Omera, Editor-in-chief of Parents Arabia Magazine, says it's unfair to assume that mixing students will lead to a moral decline in society.
    "I believe that a certain type of people make this (inappropriate gender mixing) connection. I can say that their mentality is closed, because they make the connection out of fear that this will lead to sexual or immoral behaviour. But I think the aim from the Saudi leadership is to re-inforce these (good) values and not lose them, that is my first point. Number two, it instils confidence in the Saudi girl, the Arab girl, the Muslim girl, who, like any other girl in the world, enjoys high morals. Whoever wants to follow immoral values, then you can find them anywhere in the world, not only in the Muslim world," he said.
    King Abdullah has promoted reforms since taking office in 2005 to create a modern state, stave off Western criticisms and lower dependence on oil.
    But he faces resistance from conservative clerics and princes in Saudi Arabia, one of the world's top oil exporters.
    Al-Qaeda militants launched a campaign against the state in 2003, blaming the royal family for corruption and opposing its alliance with the United States. It was mainly Saudis who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. targets.
    Officials who back Abdullah fear that without reforms young people will be drawn to militancy in the future.
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