How Saudi Arabia Benefits From KAUST

This assignment explores the various ways in which Saudi Arabia has benefited from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). It discusses the institution's mission and vision, and highlights its contributions in the areas of education, water preservation, social freedom, clean energy, and food security. The assignment also includes key performance indicators that demonstrate the positive impact of KAUST on the welfare of the Saudi Arabian people.

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TITLE: How Saudi Arabia Benefits From KAUST.
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Introduction
Brief description of KAUST
KAUST refers to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. It is located in Saudi
Arabia and is a private research institution of higher education. It was established in 2009 and it
offers programs aimed at training graduates and also research programs using English as the
official language (Ahmad, Hussain & Aqil, 2013). It was the first university in Saudi Arabia to
accommodate both genders and in 2013 KAUST was one of the 500 top growing universities in
both fields of research and in the field of citations worldwide. Also in 2016 this institution was
ranked to be number nineteen worldwide as the quickest rising institution for higher learning
institution high value research productivity. KAUST also operates the Asia’s best ever
Supercomputer known as Shaheen. In my assignment I intend to look at how Saudi Arabia has
benefited from this higher learning institution, KAUST.
Part 1: mission and vision
Benefits of KAUST to Saudi Arabia
KAUST mainly exists with a primary function of training graduates not only within Saudi Arabia
but also to graduates all over the world (Fihri, Cha, Bouhrara, Almana & Polshettiwar, 2012). It
therefore equips graduates with skills needed for them to survive in the competitive job market
through equipping them with research skills. The institution has a vision of becoming a
destination for technological education and also for scientific education including a destination
for research too. It also strives to provide a knowledge beacon which can bridge people and

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cultures to better humanity through stimulating discoveries to tackle challenges faced by
humans. Among problems faced by Saudi Arabians was that quality Education within the
country was insufficient. KAUST was thus put up to help in solving this problem. KAUST, since
it was founded, it has about 1300 alumni and holds a capacity of 1000 students. (Hepbasli &
Alsuhaibani, 2011). Quality education has helped in improving the lives of Saudi Arabians as it
has helped in creating a sense of independence among the citizens. This is because it has opened
opportunities for graduate students like employment opportunities.
Saudi Arabia does not have adequate renewable water fonts. This has limited the quantity of the
water in the ever growing population in the country. (Lee et al., 2011). KAUST therefore being
an institute that progresses on science and even technology through research has worked on
improving the quantity of water through conducting research and coming up with water
preservation techniques. The Saudi Arabians have benefitted from this as this as from the
research. Water recycling techniques have also been devised by students in KAUST to aid in
creating newer sources of water to help in supporting the population. Furthermore, KAUST has
also carried out research on how to improve the quality of water. They also aim at reducing cost
of water desalination (Lee et al., 2011).
KAUST, being the first gender mixed institution has greatly aided in improving of social
freedom within the country. This has also aided in improvement of the welfare of the women
within the country as they are both provided with equal opportunities to prosper. This has aided
in empowerment of the women who graduate from KAUST (Ramli & Twaha, 2015).

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Also, one of the major problems faced by Saudi Arabians is lack of clean energy sources. They
mostly used fuels like oils and petroleum which caused a lot of pollution hence causing harm to
the population (Salem, 2014). KAUST has conducted research on how to control pollutants,
global warming and even climate change. The reduction of pollution through opting for cleaner
energy sources such as solar energy has aided in reducing diseases (Salem, 2014).
The KAUST has also contributed in conducting research in conversion of solar energy,
photovoltaic systems with the aim of providing cheap and affordable sources of energy for the
Saudi Arabians. This has aided in the improvement of welfare of the citizens.
Saudi Arabia has also benefited from KAUST as it has successively developed through research
a way of growing food in the desert climatic conditions. This has contributed to enhancing food
security in Saudi Arabia (Sevilla, Inayat, Rojas, Hussain & Hussain, 2013). The research has also
focused on improving food quality to help in improving the health of the Saudi Arabians.
Availability of food has also increased and this makes food within Saudi Arabia affordable to
every citizen within the country.
Key performance indicators
Education:
Number of students in 2017=1000
Number of students in 2018=1500
% increase= ( 1500−1000
1000 )∗100=50 %

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Turbidity
( 0.78−0.92
0.78 )=−0.2NTU
cost of water desalination:
( 1500−1000
1000 )∗100=50 %
Food:
Cost of food 2018= 3550
Cost of food 2017 = 2980
( 3550−2980
3550 )∗100=16 %
Cost of energy:
Cost of energy 2018=2800
Cost of energy 2017= 3500
( 3500−2800
3500 )∗100=20 %
Conclusion

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KAUST has played an important role in Saudi Arabia. As seen from the KPIs there has been a
reduction in the cost of food, water desalination and cost of energy this has increased the welfare
of the people of Saudi Arabia. The water turbidity has also decreased as indicated in the KPI.
This has enabled the Saudi Arabian have cleaner and safer water.

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References
Ahmad, P., Hussain, A., & Aqil, M. (2013). Use of web 2.0 in Saudi Arabia Universities.
International Journal of Information Dissemination & Technology, 3(3).
Fihri, A., Cha, D., Bouhrara, M., Almana, N., & Polshettiwar, V. (2012). Fibrous Nano‐Silica
(KCC‐1)‐Supported Palladium Catalyst: Suzuki Coupling Reactions Under Sustainable
Conditions. ChemSusChem, 5(1), 85-89.
Hepbasli, A., & Alsuhaibani, Z. (2011). A key review on present status and future directions of
solar energy studies and applications in Saudi Arabia. Renewable and sustainable energy
reviews, 15(9), 5021-5050.
Lee, O. P., Yiu, A. T., Beaujuge, P. M., Woo, C. H., Holcombe, T. W., Millstone, J. E., ... &
Fréchet, J. M. (2011). Efficient Small Molecule Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells with
High Fill Factors via Pyrene‐Directed Molecular Self‐Assembly. Advanced Materials,
23(45), 5359-5363.
Ramli, M. A., & Twaha, S. (2015). Analysis of renewable energy feed-in tariffs in selected
regions of the globe: Lessons for Saudi Arabia. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 45, 649-661.
Salem, M. I. (2014). The role of universities in building a knowledge-based economy in Saudi
Arabia. The International Business & Economics Research Journal (Online), 13(5),
1047.
Sevilla, G. A. T., Inayat, S. B., Rojas, J. P., Hussain, A. M., & Hussain, M. M. (2013). Flexible
and semi‐transparent thermoelectric energy harvesters from low cost bulk silicon (100).
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Wilkins, S. (2011). Who benefits from foreign universities in the Arab Gulf States?. Australian
Universities' Review, The, 53(1), 73.