History of the University •
Women's education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been receiving a great deal of care and attention, enabiling Saudi women to confidently pursue their aspirations and demonstrate their excellence in various fields. They have been able to stand out, not only at the domestic level, but also on the global stage, where Saudi women are becoming well-known scholars and intellectuals. They have made a name for themselves in international forums and in various fields of science, achieving success and proving themselves at least as competent as their peers in other developed countries.
Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University is one of the successes of the care and attention that has been directed toward women's higher education. The efforts began in 1970, when the General Presidency for Girls' Education laid the cornerstone of the first educational college for girls. Since then, it has established a further 102 colleges that range from universities to intermediate and community colleges, are distributed across 72 Saudi cities, and comprise 600,000 female students. In Riyadh alone, six colleges were founded: College of Languages, College of Sciences, College of Teacher Education, College of Social Work, College of Home Economics, and College of Arts.
In 2006, a royal decree was issued that established the first university for girls in Riyadh, under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education and with the aim of serving the development and progress of the Kingdom. The six existing colleges in the city were restructured and several new colleges established, and the university began operating in 2007 with the appointment of Dr. Al Jawhara bint Fahad Al Saud as its first rector.
On October 29, 2008, the university was honored by a visit from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, when the foundation stone of the dormitory was laid. During his visit, His Majesty changed the university's name to Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, in tribute to the late sister of the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, King Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman, may Allah have mercy upon them.
