A Tour in Pictures

For those who haven't had the pleasure of experiencing Kaust in person, here are some highlights from a virtual walking tour (minus the sweltering heat).

The Beacon: accidental namesake of this blog

The Kaust Beacon is intended to be the emblem of the university.  It looks nice, isn't finished, and it's nocturnal lights function unpredictably.  I'd say it captures the university pretty well.

In case you've forgotten that this is Saudi Arabia...

The Grand Mosque is the most stunning structure on campus.  Walking through its outdoor courtyards of polished stone generates a feeling of wealth and history.

The Canal

Between the canal, the harbor, and the Red Sea Steps, students could conceivably be riding jetskis to class.  This needs to happen.

This is obviously a rec center, right Dad?

The Harbor Sports club is easily the weirdest building on campus.  It looks more like Mission Control and is only redeemed by the fact that it has the lone indoor basketball court on campus, which I'm sure is the praise every architect yearns for.

The Marina: the nicest building that no one visits

Buildings on the peninsula, including the Marina, look nice.  That's all I know about them.  Hopefully this will change.

A bustling neighborhood

Believe it or not, this neighborhood is inhabited.  Kaust is actually short of housing.  More on that in the near future.  Housing is its own massive ball of wax.

kthxbai

An Intro to Kaust: Take Two

Kaust is a university for humans.  It looks like this...

But sometimes it also looks like this...

Or this...

The founders and administration of Kaust seem to be the only ones who are oblivious to these other faces of the university.  But whether they ignore them or not, Kaust has bad parts as well as good, sometimes far in excess of the good.  The bad parts will not go away on their own.  They need to be acknowledged and rectified, like this…

Actually not like that.  This is what Kaust higher-ups usually do when they are forced to recognize the existence of a problem.  They find a way to waste resources while also carefully avoiding the application of a permanent, viable solution.

Kaust is run with a ton of money, limited competence, and virtually no accountability.  Projections for Kaust by the student body are extremely pessimistic.  Unfortunately, they're also realistic.  I'd say its eventual fate is a C-level university.  Others say it shuts down in 20 years.  Let's take a look before it crumbles into the sand.

An Intro to Kaust: Take One

This is King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.  It is a new university in Saudi Arabia whose construction was made possible by the money and the vision of the current monarch, King Abdullah.  It is the host of over 600 masters and doctoral students, as well as a sum of administrators, faculty, and miscellaneous staff that number in the thousands.  Together, these facilities and people comprise an institution, one which cannot function appropriately without either component.  And as Kaust has set forth very lofty goals for its stature and accomplishment, these components must be expected to do far more than just function appropriately.  They must be excellent.

Kaust has many proud supporters.  Its framers are like beaming parents, extolling the university's worth with the abandon of endless optimism for its potential.  They point to the buildings, complimenting the speed of their formation and the beauty of their design.  They speak of the faculty and students, highlighting their immaculate pedigree.  They remark that the resources of the university are absolutely unparalleled in terms of finance, recreation, and opportunity.  Indeed, they paint a very pretty picture of our little school in the desert.

As one of the 600 current students and a member of Kaust's founding class, I have seen this painting many times.  I have heard all the speeches and I have seen all the sights.  But more importantly, I have lived in the buildings and worked with the people.  It is with this experience that I tell you that this painting is a mirage.  That is not to say that it is entirely without substance or merit.  My time here has had its compensations.  But because of the excess of attention paid to these positive points, I do not feel compelled to advertise them further.  Instead I seek to illuminate the aspects of the university that are hidden, to systematically dismantle the illusion of Kaust and to replace it with an image tempered with realism.

That is the purpose of this blog.