Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU; ), formerly Riyadh University for Women, is a public women's university in

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. It is the largest

women's university A women's college is an institution of higher education where enrollment is all-female. In the United States, almost all women's colleges are private undergraduate institutions, with many offering coeducational graduate programs. In other countrie ...

in the world. Established in 1970 during the reign of King Faisal bin Abdulalziz, it assumed its current name in 2008 when it was granted university status by

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (, ; 1 August 1924 – 23 January 2015) was King of Saudi Arabia, King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 1 August 2005 until his death in 2015. Prior to his accession, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia si ...

and is named after Noura bint Abdul Rahman, elder sister and adviser of King Abdulaziz ibn Saud and the eldest daughter of

Abdul Rahman bin Faisal Abdul (also transliterated as Abdal, Abdel, Abdil, Abdol, Abdool, or Abdoul; , ) is the most frequent transliteration of the combination of the Arabic word '' Abd'' (, meaning "Servant") and the definite prefix '' al / el'' (, meaning "the"). It ...

, the last emir of the

Second Saudi State The second Saudi state (), officially known as the Emirate of Najd, was a state that existed between 1824 and 1891 in the Najd region of what is now Saudi Arabia. Saudi rule was restored to central (Najd) and Eastern Arabia after the first Sau ...

. The university offers diplomas,

bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and never has been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

and

postgraduate degree Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor ...

s. It has 34 colleges in the city of Riyadh and in the neighbouring cities, an Arabic Language Institute (for non-speakers of Arabic), a Deanship of Community Service and Continuous Education, and a Community College. It has more than 5,000 academic and administrative staff.

History and name

The university was founded in 1970 as the first College of Education for women in the Kingdom. Within the following 25 years, there were 102 similar colleges in 72 cities around the country, accommodating 60,000 students. There were 6 colleges in the city of

alone, primarily in the fields of education,

social service Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

, science, arts, and

home economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences (often shortened to FCS or FACS), is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and f ...

. In 2004, the decision was made to unify all of the women's colleges in Riyadh, thus creating the first all-female university in the Kingdom. Other colleges around the Kingdom were unified and expanded in their respected regions into independent universities. In 2008, the

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques His Majesty the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (abbreviated as CTHM; ), or Protector of the Two Holy Cities, is a Royal and noble styles, royal style that has been used officially by the King of Saudi Arabia, monarchs of Saudi Arabia since 19 ...

, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud inaugurated the campus and changed the university's name to "Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University" after Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman, the sister of the country's first king and leader,

King Abdulaziz Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud (; 15 January 1875Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted as 1876, although a few sources give it as 1880. According to British author Robert Lacey's book ''The Kingdom'', ...

. ''Nourah'' in Arabic means "light." With this launch was the building of the world's largest and most modern women's institution of higher education in a self-contained higher education city. The first rector was Princess

Al Jawhara bint Fahd Al Saud Al Jawhara bint Fahd Al Saud (); is a Saudi royal, an academic and a member of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. Early life and education Al Jawhara bint Fahd is a daughter of Fahd bin Mohammed and Muda bint Assaf. Her father was the se ...

. On 12 June 2011, the new campus was opened in an official ceremony by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, during which he said:

"Women carry a responsibility that is more than a duty, to maintain the stability of society and contribute to building the economy of the nation, and to represent the community and the nation to the highest standards, outside and inside the country. To be the caring mother, exemplary citizen and productive employee. Outside the nation, to be the ambassador of her country and community, and to represent well her religion, faith and our values."

In February 2017, the university was the host of the first-ever opera in Saudi Arabia. The show, "Antar and Alba", was produced by Opera Lebanon.

Colleges and Departments

Health Colleges * College of Medicine ** Basic Sciences * College of

Dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...

** Preventive Dental Sciences ** Clinical Dental Sciences ** Basic Dental Sciences * College of

Nursing Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

* College of

Pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

Pharmaceutical Sciences Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links healt ...

Clinical Pharmacy 230px, A hospital pharmacist is checking a liquid solution. Clinical pharmacy is the branch of pharmacy in which clinical pharmacists provide direct patient care that optimizes the use of medication and promotes health, wellness, and disease p ...

* College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences ** Rehabilitation Sciences **

Health Sciences The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences – those sciences that focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple a ...

Medical Technology Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of liv ...

Communication Sciences Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...

Science Colleges * College of Business and Administration ** Economics ** Law **

Business Administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

** Accounting * College of Computer and Information Science ** Computer Sciences **

Information Systems An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems comprise four components: task, people, structu ...

** Networking and Telecommunication Systems * College of Science **

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

Mathematical Sciences The Mathematical Sciences are a group of areas of study that includes, in addition to mathematics, those academic disciplines that are primarily mathematical in nature but may not be universally considered subfields of mathematics proper. Statisti ...

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

Humanities Colleges * College of Art and Design ** Interior Design **

Graphic Design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

and

Digital Media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, an ...

** Painting and Printmaking ** Fashion Design and Textiles * College of Art ** Arabic Language and

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

** English Language and

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

** History and Civilization ** Library and Information **

Islamic Studies Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...

* College of Education ** Curriculum and Instruction ** Early Childhood ** Special Needs Education **

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

* College of Home Economics ** Nutrition &

Food Science Food science (or bromatology) is the basic science and applied science of food; its scope starts at overlap with agricultural science and nutritional science and leads through the scientific aspects of food safety and food processing, informing ...

* College of Social Work * College of Languages and Translation ** English Language and Translation ** French Language and Translation * Community College ** Computer Sciences and Information Technology ** Administrative Sciences The Deanship of Community Service and Continuous Education offers various diploma options. The Arabic Language Institute (for non-speakers of Arabic) offers grant scholarships to non-speakers of Arabic from different countries. The institute has over 350 students from more than 40 countries. In early 2018, the university became the first in the Kingdom to offer a driving school for women, following the allowance of

King Salman Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; born 31 December 1935) has been King of Saudi Arabia since 2015, and was Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2022. He is the 25th son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia. He assumed the thro ...

to grant women the right to drive in the Kingdom. More than 50,000 female students are expected to take part. Despite these advancements Saudi Arabia still has some of the worst rates of unemployment among women in the world Preparatory Year Program (PYP): To ensure quality and a smooth transition into university life, PNU students are required to enroll in a two-year preparatory program of necessary skills, such as: *

Study skills Study skills or study strategies are approaches applied to learning. Study skills are an array of skills which tackle the process of organizing and taking in new information, retaining information, or dealing with assessments. They are discrete ...

* Intensive English program *

Communication skills Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not only transmit ...

Computer skills Computer literacy is defined as the knowledge and ability to use computers and related technology efficiently, with skill levels ranging from elementary use to computer programming and advanced problem solving. Computer literacy can also refer t ...

Campus services and facilities

Description

The campus was constructed in a record time of two years, supported by 75,000 construction workers and the latest building machinery and methodologies. It is 13 million square meters in size, with a maximum capacity of 60,000 students. The campus has 600 high-tech smart buildings, large-capacity student residencies, various models of faculty residence units, and three spacious, state-of-the-art recreation centers. In addition, it has

pre-school A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an educational establishment or learning space Learning space or learning setting refers to a physical s ...

s, primary schools, intermediate and secondary schools. It also has an elegant central library, research centers, a university hospital, student support centers, student-accessible sport facilities, a convention center and an automated metro system by

Hitachi Rail Italy Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the dea ...

Health and Wellness

Sports Facilities include a number of sports halls (basketball, volleyball, aerobatics, bicycles, etc.) as well as an olympic sized swimming pool. In 2016, the university signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the General Authority for Sports, aiming to increase participation in sports to 40% by 2030.

Sustainable Design

* Water recycling plant * Solar thermal plant * 4000 sq. meters of Solar Panels, which provide 16% of heating and 18% of air-conditioning needs 38 of the university's buildings, totaling a million square meters, have been submitted for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating and the library has applied for the second highest LEED "Gold" rating.

Central Library

The library holds over 2 million books in both Arabic and English with a maximum capacity of 5 million, in addition to numerous journal subscriptions, government publications,

dissertations A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

databases In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and ana ...

, and

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has c ...

."Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University"
Saudi Ministry of Higher Education Portal

Research Centers

Social Research and Women's Studies * Social Science Research. * Women's Studies Research * Human and Social Development Research * Natural Sciences Research Center Aljazeera Chair Academic Societies Established * Saudi Society for Child Care. * Arabic Language Society.

Student Support Centers

* Clubs and Student Councils * Meeting Rooms and Offices * Media and screening rooms * Restaurants and Cafes * Banquet Halls * Bookstore * Pharmacy * Supermarket * Bank

Convention center

* 2 large halls * 2,700 seats (largest in the country) * 1,350 seats * 13 conference and meeting rooms.

Transportation

Due to the physical size of the campus, an efficient means of transporting students needed to be developed. To this end, an 11.5 km

automated guideway transit An automated guideway transit (AGT) or automated fixed-guideway transit or automatic guideway transit system is a type of fixed guideway transit infrastructure with a riding or suspension track that supports and physically guides one or more dri ...

system, the Princess Nora bint Abdul Rahman University

Automated People Mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small-scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks ...

(PNU-APM), was constructed. The network, built to

light metro A medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. MCS trains are usually 1 to 4 cars. Most medi ...

standards, opened in 2012 and has 4 lines and 14 stations. It has 22 two car

AnsaldoBreda Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the dea ...

Driverless Metro trains, each having a maximum capacity of up to 110 passengers and a maximum speed of 60 km/h. The driverless technology used in the trains is the same as that of the Copenhagen Metro.

International partnerships

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

in New Zealand *

University of Southern Denmark The University of Southern Denmark (, SDU) has campuses located in Southern Denmark and on Zealand. It offers a number of joint programmes in co-operation with the University of Flensburg and the University of Kiel. Contacts with regional indu ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

Valencia College Valencia College (VC) is a public college with its main campus in Orlando, Florida, United States. Established in 1968, it is a member of the Florida College System and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to offer ...

in the United States * Rouen University in France *

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam ( ; abbreviated as EUR) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century Christian humanist and theologian. Erasmus M ...

in the Netherlands *

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

in Australia *

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

in Ireland

Memberships in Regional and International Associations

International Association of Universities The International Association of Universities (IAU) is a membership-led non-governmental organization working in the field of global higher education. It has more than 600 members in over 130 countries, including institutions, organizations, aff ...

Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO, formerly ISESCO) is a specialized organization that operates under the aegis of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and i ...

Association of Arab Universities The Association of Arab Universities (Arabic: إتحاد الجامعات العربية), also called the ''Union of Arab Universities'' (Arabic: تحاد الجامعات العربية), is an organization working within the framework of the A ...

* The Society of Arab Universities * The Scientific Society of Arab Nursing Faculties * Colleges of Computing and Information Society * Association of Social Services * American Council on Education * Association of Colleges of Fine Arts * Scientific Society for Arab Faculties f Medicine * Society of Colleges of Science

Rankings

According to UNIRANKS – The World’s Largest University Rankings, Princess Nourah Bint Abdul Rahman University was ranked 11th nationally among universities in Saudi Arabia in 2025.

References

External links

Official site
in Arabic an
in English

Aerial view and building photos
* Photographs fro
Tridonic.fr

Dedication of the new campus by King Abdullah
(video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University 1970 establishments in Saudi Arabia Universities and colleges established in 1970 Education in Riyadh Women's universities and colleges in Saudi Arabia University people mover systems