Deal with Saudi University finalized

DATELINE: BERKELEY, Calif.

UC Berkeley announced the finalization of a partnership with a Saudi Arabian university Tuesday that will give the campus' mechanical engineering faculty $28 million to help shape the developing school.

The five-year deal calls for UC Berkeley professors to design the mechanical engineering curriculum for the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, recruit new faculty for the department and collaborate on joint research projects with the school, which is currently under construction.

Last year, the Saudi Arabian institution invited UC Berkeley and up to a dozen other American universities to submit proposals to help develop the new school. Negotiations have taken place over the last few months, and Chancellor Robert Birgeneau signed the deal on Feb. 26.

While some professors had raised concerns about discrimination occurring within the Saudi Arabian university, mechanical engineering professor Carlos Fernandez-Pello said he considers the possibility unlikely.

"It expands the outreach of the university and the collaboration with international universities," he said. "We have many relations with ... universities. This is one more."

The UC Berkeley panel members, who have yet to be chosen, will be responsible for identifying and recruiting 10 potential faculty members for the Saudi Arabian institution before its slated September 2009 opening, according to the deal.

Approximately 20,000 students, faculty and staff and their families are expected to reside in and attend the new university. The energy-efficient campus will stand near the Red Sea and span more than 16 million square meters on land, with an offshore ecosystem for research, according to the school's Web site.

If faculty members are not found in time for the opening of the new school, UC Berkeley professors may teach at the school on a semester-by-semester basis, according to the document. Additionally, some of the students in Saudi Arabia may be allowed to listen to and receive credit for UC Berkeley lectures online.

The document also states that mechanical engineering faculty at UC Berkeley and the Saudi university will collaborate on joint research projects exploring fields such as sustainable green engineering, high-precision manufacturing, ocean engineering and bioengineering.

The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology will cover travel-related expenses for UC Berkeley faculty, according to the document.

Junior Kenneth Lee, president of the campus' American Society of Mechanical Engineers, said he had never heard of the deal until yesterday, but the news did not surprise him.

"I feel that a lot of engineers have a lot more to worry about in terms of homework and projects," said Lee, a mechanical and nuclear engineering student. "It's impossible for students to know everything that's going on."

(C) 2008 Daily Californian via U-WIRE