CHICAGO: Opening a campus of the University of New Haven in Riyadh will give students a stronger foundation of understanding and learning to strengthen career goals while better positioning them to succeed in a global environment, the university’s president told Arab News on Thursday.
The campus, which will open in the autumn of 2026, will provide a wide range of academic offerings in a country that is a “gateway” to opportunities in the Middle East and the world, said Dr. Jens Frederiksen.
The University of New Haven is the first American educational institution to receive approval to open a campus in Saudi Arabia.
“We have a mandate to deliver students who are better than ready to join the workforce and drive the future, because I think the labor market is shifting so dramatically,” Frederiksen said, adding that the Riyadh campus is slated to serve up to 13,000 students.
“The mass diversification of the entire (Saudi) economy, and the whole modernization initiative, is nothing short of inspiring and ambitious.
“Thus, very early on in my tenure, I went to see our team that’s in Saudi Arabia, and I felt like the educational mission and vision of the University of New Haven aligned incredibly well with many of the sectors and targets outlined in Vision 2030.”
The partnership, he said, will place American and Saudi students in a “world environment” that will strengthen their career goals and successes.
He added that the Riyadh campus will feature a College of Business and Digital Innovation, a College of Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing, and a College of Arts and Applied Sciences.
Undergraduate and graduate degrees will be offered alongside executive education and micro-credentials to support lifelong learning.
Students will have access to both the university’s main campus in West Haven, Connecticut, and the one in Tuscany, Italy, which opened in 2012.
They will also enjoy the numerous educational and career-related resources available to all the university’s students, he said, adding that the masters in sports management “is a top 10 global program and the demand for it, given what’s happening in the Kingdom, is strong.”
The university and Saudi Arabia, he said, are committed to creating connections with business and industry to support academic programs, internships and recruitment pathways for students; identifying sponsors for student scholarships; and establishing educational and training partnerships that achieve the Kingdom’s workforce development goals.
