Arab open university being set up

The first pan-Arab open university is being set up with its headquarters in Kuwait and is expected to start enrolling students next year.

The project -- which is being funded by a regional development institution founded by Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia the Arab Gulf Programme of the United Nations Development Organisations -- aims to increase the provision of higher education in the region.

An agreement on establishing the university was signed in Kuwait by Prince Talal, Kuwaiti's Education Minister Yussif al-Ibrahim and a senior official of the British Open University Sir John Daniel, which is to provide technical assistance and accreditation of degrees.

It's hoped that five-thousand Arab students will be admitted in the first year, rising to seventy-thousand in ten years. The university will have branches in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service