A CT university is opening a campus on the other side of the world. Here's why and where.
A Connecticut university is the first in the nation to partner with Saudi Arabia to create a branch campus in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia next year with hopes to create a global workforce while continuing to strengthen relationships between the two countries.
Jens Frederiksen, the president of the University of New Haven, said the goal of opening the branch campus in Riyadh is to expose students to global experiences.
'The overarching philosophical goal is that we here at the University of New Haven for a very long time have had an intensely global component as part of the experience,' he said. 'We all believe here that the world is only getting smaller and the exposure to global experiences is the path of the future for both our students here and elsewhere.'
In April, the University of New Haven signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education, its Ministry of Investment and the Royal Commission for Riyadh City to support the formation of the branch campus.
University officials said the planned branch campus follows the Saudi government's Vision 2030, a program launched in 2016 that includes diversification of the country's economy and the increase of the private sector's participation in higher education.
Further, university officials noted that with key advancements in women's roles in the country from the ability to drive and now work, the university will provide further opportunities for higher education advancements for women.
While noting reforms for women in the country, human rights groups continue to voice concern that women are facing discrimination from the male guardianship program, which requires male approval for women to conduct basic activities, according to UN Watch, a nonprofit promoting human rights.
Even so, university officials said they hope to lead by example in the formation of the campus, with both male and female faculty, integrated classrooms and women in leadership training programs.
The Riyadh campus is expected to begin with 600 to 800 students with the goal over 10 years of having between 8,000 and 9,000 undergraduate students and 2,000 to 3,000 graduate students, Frederiksen said.
The university plans to open three separate schools at the campus over the years beginning with business and digital innovation, followed by the College of Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing and lastly the College of Applied Sciences.
The branch campus, similar to the University of New Haven, would include a tuition-driven institution. The campus would also be open to all students from across the globe, subject to admissions and visa requirements. University officials expect most students will be local from Saudi Arabia.
Frederiksen said the global economy is not likely going anywhere anytime soon, with the university providing an important training ground for students with the campus.
'It is also, pragmatically, you are going to be competing in a market, whether it is semiconductors or hospitality or sports or wherever, it is very much a global environment,' he said. 'Adding that dimension to return on investment of education is a key pillar. We want to have a transformative impact on our students in very tangible ways.'
He said the university has also partnered with other countries including India, Ukraine and also founded an Afghan women's scholarship program for students.
'This next generation is going to have global challenges to solve,' he said. 'We are preparing students in the most thoughtful ways across the globe to really be positioned to take on these incredibly complicated challenges.'
The university began its relationship with Saudi Arabia decades ago, with students coming to study at the University of New Haven, according to Mario Thomas Gaboury, vice president for governmental affairs and global engagement at the university.
'We have a longstanding relationship and that is the framework for it,' said Gaboury, explaining that the number of people who are below the age of 20 is increasing in Saudi Arabia.
The Charge d' Affaires of the U.S. Mission to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said in a statement that they 'are seeing an increase in U.S.-Saudi joint research, student exchange and university engagement.
'The news of the University of New Haven opening a campus in Riyadh next year is extremely exciting for both the United States and Saudi Arabia and we look forward to seeing this project continue to progress,' said the Charge d'Affaires of the U.S. Mission to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
David Mednicoff, chair of the department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, said in an email that the relationship between U.S. and Saudi Arabia has been strong for a long time 'because of the strategic importance of oil.
'This relationship has long included employing American expatriates in the oil industry, which has also had a minor impact on the U.S. economy,' he said. 'Economic change in the Kingdom is not a major factor in the relationship, which has been based on oil, and more recently shared American and Saudi concerns about Iran and its role in the region.'
Mednicoff added that the two countries have historically 'high levels of cooperation' because President Donald Trump 'feels a personal connection with Saudi rulers' and is less concerned about political and civil rights in the Kingdom.
He added that Saudi policies to make 'tourism an important part of their economic diversification will likely modestly increase the economic interconnections of the two countries.'
Mednicoff said higher education in the Kingdom has a growing importance 'as the economy diversifies and a broader range of the citizenry enters the labor market.'
He said a U.S. branch of an American university could contribute to Saudi-American ties but such branch campuses 'typically are more about providing a presumed economic windfall and advancing the global brand reputation of the U.S. institution.
'These branch campus arrangements can be tricky, in terms of attracting steady students and meeting the specific needs and expectations of the host country,' he said.
Mednicoff said that Saudi Arabia has had an image of being a backwards country for women.
'The image was based in the Kingdom's longstanding connection to a conservative form of Islam that favors fairly strict separation of men and women in the public arena,' he said.
However, Mednicoff said, the Kingdom has loosened the grip of this type of Wahhabi Islam on the Kingdom's daily life.
'As a result, women are enjoying more ability to enter the workforce and go out in public more freely,' he said. 'This liberalization of women's access to social spaces includes freedom for women to drive, which was long a source of criticism by outsiders.'
Frederiksen said that he has been to Saudi Arabia five times in the past 12 to 13 months and he views it as a 'country that is transforming at the speed of light,' adding that women make up 36% of the workforce.
And he added that 45% of small to medium-sized businesses are owned by women.
'It is a country that is dramatically modernizing,' he said.
Gaboury said that he has seen how the culture has evolved, remembering his first trip in 2008 when he could feel the oppressiveness of the culture. During his trip last year, he saw men and women together as opposed to being separated previously.
He also observed women in high level positions.
But Amnesty International also raised concerns stating that Saudi Arabia's new Personal Status Law touted as major reform 'also codifies some of the practices inherent in the male guardianship system, fails to adequately protect women from domestic violence and entrenches a system of gender-based discrimination in marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance.'
Gaboury said the university's branch campus will include male and female faculty and that the program will be taught in the same methodology that is on the main campus. He added that Saudi Arabia is looking to 'elevate the role of women.
'It is leading by example,' he said, adding that the university has programs that advance women in law enforcement and is adding training programs for women in the Ministry of Education.
He added that the collaboration is going a long way.
'Good economic relations and stability are actually helpful in terms of peace and prosperity,' he said. 'We are not giving dividends. We are trying to contribute to a civil society.'
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