April 1, 2012 at 20:20King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Good afternoon!
Finally, I had time to write a little about my new job, the new University of Technology in Saudi Arabia (KAUST). KAUST is a very young project and ambitious designed to revive the former glory of Arab science, according to the King’s idea, and neither political resources nor financial resources spare this goal. In this post I will briefly talk about my observations at the university that I managed to make in 2 months of work.
A little bit about yourself
I work as a PostDoc in the group of mathematical physics, which is based in the Department of Mathematics, Computer and Engineering Technologies. I am engaged in numerical calculations of detonation waves in a classical gas and dispersive shock waves in quantum gases. Postgraduate studies in theoretical physics at the Institute of Spectroscopy of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
A bit about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is the Islamic kingdom in whose territory the relevant laws apply. The kingdom has a lot of oil, and it is the main US ally in this region. The main oil company in the Kingdom is Saudi Aramсo. The local currency is the Saudi rial, which is approximately equal to 8 of our rubles. Almost the entire more or less educated population speaks good English, as higher education takes place in this language.
A bit about KAUST
KAUST is a university campus located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea. KAUST was opened just three years ago and currently the volume of investments in it has reached about 20 billion US dollars. The main intellectual resources were attracted to KAUST from other countries, starting from the USA and ending with the countries of Southeast Asia. To attract foreign specialists and students, KAUST made more liberal laws than those that apply in the rest of the kingdom. For example, on campus, women don’t have to wear a
Since KAUST is a technological institute, a greater bias is being made towards applied research. The university also has a department of chemistry and natural sciences, as well as a department of physical sciences. There are also many non-scientific departments, for example, the department of information technology, which serves a super computer and the rest of the IT infrastructure. There is a department for working with the government of the kingdom and with the embassies of foreign states. Through this structure, all visa issues are resolved (this also includes obtaining a visa to another state, for example, if you are going on vacation or a business trip), obtaining a driver’s license, and other issues related to interaction with the state. On the territory of the university there is a school, a kindergarten, and a large number of different facilities for a comfortable life: beach with a sailing station, diving center, yacht club, fitness center, swimming pools, a large golf course, many tennis courts, football fields, car rental service, taxi service, clinic, large dining room, you can list for a long time. Entrance to many sports facilities is free or cheap. For example, renting a windsurfing kit costs 50 riyals per hour, as much as renting a small catamaran. I don’t play golf yet (but it’s worth a try), but I can say that the golf course looks very impressive, a very interesting landscape, perfect lawn, I just can’t imagine how much such a pleasure would cost in Moscow, it costs about 300 riyals a month . Sometimes the university is more like a large five-star hotel on the shores of the Red Sea. many tennis courts, football fields, car rental service, taxi service, clinic, a large dining room, you can list for a long time. Entrance to many sports facilities is free or cheap. For example, renting a windsurfing kit costs 50 riyals per hour, as much as renting a small catamaran. I don’t play golf yet (but it’s worth a try), but I can say that the golf course looks very impressive, a very interesting landscape, perfect lawn, I just can’t imagine how much such a pleasure would cost in Moscow, it costs about 300 riyals a month . Sometimes the university is more like a large five-star hotel on the shores of the Red Sea. many tennis courts, football fields, car rental service, taxi service, clinic, a large dining room, you can list for a long time. Entrance to many sports facilities is free or cheap. For example, renting a windsurfing kit costs 50 riyals per hour, as much as renting a small catamaran. I don’t play golf yet (but it’s worth a try), but I can say that the golf course looks very impressive, a very interesting landscape, perfect lawn, I just can’t imagine how much such a pleasure would cost in Moscow, it costs about 300 riyals a month . Sometimes the university is more like a large five-star hotel on the shores of the Red Sea. Entrance to many sports facilities is free or cheap. For example, renting a windsurfing kit costs 50 riyals per hour, as much as renting a small catamaran. I don’t play golf yet (but it’s worth a try), but I can say that the golf course looks very impressive, a very interesting landscape, perfect lawn, I just can’t imagine how much such a pleasure would cost in Moscow, it costs about 300 riyals a month . Sometimes the university is more like a large five-star hotel on the shores of the Red Sea. Entrance to many sports facilities is free or cheap. For example, renting a windsurfing kit costs 50 riyals per hour, as much as renting a small catamaran. I don’t play golf yet (but it’s worth a try), but I can say that the golf course looks very impressive, a very interesting landscape, perfect lawn, I just can’t imagine how much such a pleasure would cost in Moscow, it costs about 300 riyals a month . Sometimes the university is more like a large five-star hotel on the shores of the Red Sea. I just can’t imagine how much such a pleasure would cost in Moscow, here it costs about 300 riyals per month. Sometimes the university is more like a large five-star hotel on the shores of the Red Sea. I just can’t imagine how much such a pleasure would cost in Moscow, here it costs about 300 riyals per month. Sometimes the university is more like a large five-star hotel on the shores of the Red Sea.
Students from KAUST study starting with Master Degree, there is also a PhD Degree. You can work in scientific departments at the positions of PostDoc, Reseacher and Engeneer. Education at the positions of MD and PhD student is free, moreover, a scholarship of $ 25 thousand per year is paid, and housing is also provided, for a single person it is usually a
IT at KAUST
There is a clear bias towards Apple products. Each student or specialist is given a MacBook Pro, a large Apple monitor and a Dell Precision T7500 or iMac desktop computer, and the latest IPhone is also given to specialists. The attendants, starting from security guards, work on the iMac, there are simply no other computers here. I do not really understand such a focus on Apple products, but it is clear when designing a university that corporations divided the market between themselves. For example, all phones and routers are only from Cisco. If necessary, you can access the Shaheen super-computer, plus each laboratory organizes its own small cluster, which I am doing now. There is a large laboratory for the visualization of scientific data, I have not studied it in detail, there are 3D printers and a large number of monitors and projectors in various configurations. Most of the university’s territory is covered by Wifi network, there is an IP television network, in each house there is a television set-top box. Skype is open.
Prices
A full lunch in the dining room costs from 14 riyals, a taxi to the airport is 100 riyals, a car rental is 120 riyals per day.
disadvantages
If you want to work and play sports and you have a wife, then in addition to the lack of alcohol, heat in the summer and lack of cultural life, there are practically no shortcomings. For example, I work during the day, in the evening in the fitness room, on weekends I ride a surf if it blows. I love the sea and it replaces almost all my entertainment. If you are used to a rich cultural life, you want to go to parties and have fun, then of course it will be boring, this is especially true for single people. Some, for example, travel a lot, they find a way out. There is still some feeling that you are living on a reservation, in fact, KAUST is such.
There will be questions, please contact, I will try to answer.
PS
Sorry for the quality of the photos.
Park near my house.
Office window view.
Swimming pool at the sports center
Campus entrance
Dining area view
