Saudi king breaks ground for mixed-sex university

King Abdullah laid the foundation stone yesterday for a new co-educational science and technology university the government hopes will attract students from around the world.

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) will be the first public university in the kingdom for both male and female students.



Saudi Arabia has a strict Islamic lifestyle where men and women are segregated in public. The university will open in 2009 with 500 male and female students.

It was not clear whether the two sexes would attend classes side-by-side or be separated into groups.