JEDDAH: Huda bint Mohammad Al-Ameel, who was deputy dean at the College of Education at King Saud University, has been appointed president of Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah issued a royal decree Sunday announcing the appointment, which comes as part of his efforts to empower women by placing them in high positions.
Huda thanked King Abdullah for the appointment. She praised the efforts made by former president Princess Al-Jowhara bint Fahd for the university's progress.
"I will work along with my colleagues at the university to realize the hopes and aspirations of the Saudi leadership and make Nora a leading university in the world," she said.
Huda obtained in 2002 a doctorate in early childhood education from the University of Wales. Her thesis was on the effects of different types of pre-school curricula on some aspects of children's experience and development in Saudi Arabia.
She took her master's degree in educational leadership from Western Michigan University in 1986. She has worked as vice chair at the Department of Early Childhood Education and assistant professor of early childhood education at the same college.
She has given many lectures and conducted training courses on early childhood education and parental education. She is a member of the National Association of Education for Young Children and a consultant for King Abdul Aziz and His Companions Foundation for the Gifted.
The Riyadh-based Nora university, the world's largest women-only university, was established in 2007. It has 32 colleges in 17 cities and townships in the Riyadh province.
A new campus is under construction at a cost of SR15 billion and includes a central library, conference centers, buildings for 15 academic faculties, several laboratories and a 700-bed hospital.
At present there are 52,308 students and about 2,000 staff members. It has colleges for medicine, dentistry, nursing, naturopathy, information technology, kindergarten education, languages, instant translation and pharmacy.
Figures released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Saudi government show that women make up 58 percent of the total student population of Saudi universities.
© Arab News 2011
