The City of Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University for Girls, built at a cost of more than SR20 billion, was opened in Riyadh by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

More than 2,000 students and faculty members cheered as the King inaugurated the presigious univesity.

With a capacity to enroll about 50,000 students, the PNU is the largest women-only university in the world and part of an ambitious education plan of the Saudi government, said an Arab News report.

At the new university, King Abdullah was received by Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Riyadh Region; Dr Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance; Dr Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Anqri, Minister of Higher Education and Dr Mohammed Al-Maziad, Deputy Minister of Finance and supervisor on the university project.

King Abdullah later boarded an automatic train to tour the university. During the tour, the King was briefed on the facilities at the university.
 He also visited the administrative building where he toured by electrical car the building as well as the central library.

'Princess Nora University is a symbol of women's education and women's participation in the building of this nation,' said Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf, giving an overview of the campus, which includes a medical facility, a research center and a library with about five million books and journals.

'A residential area at PNU has about 1,400 villas, and massive hostel facilities to accommodate 12,000 students,' said the minister, adding that a sports city for girls is another major attraction besides a service tunnel along the university campus.

PNU President Huda bint Mohammad Al-Ameel said PNU had become a major symbol of gender equality and women's education in Saudi Arabia.

She added that the university campus has modern infrastructure facilities, including a high-tech transport system that links all important facilities on the campus 24 hours a day. The highlight of the transport system is an elevated railway that will facilitate the smooth flow of traffic inside the campus.

The new campus includes a 700-bed university hospital, 15 colleges, a central library, a conference hall, laboratories and three research centers for nanotechnology, information technology and bioscience.