Berkeley and Stanford Sign Deals With New Saudi University, Despite Some Professors' Misgivings

By Karin Fischer

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, the ambitious $10-billion research institution that Saudi Arabia plans to open in 2009, announced on Tuesday that it had signed agreements with Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley to help it design an academic curriculum and hire faculty members.

The agreements are the first of several such deals with foreign colleges anticipated in the coming weeks.

Under the arrangements, the two