Chancellor Jones visited Saudi Arabia’s NEOM University to meet with representatives and discuss a potential partnership in December. NEOM University is part of the world’s largest construction project, NEOM.
Jones was invited to NEOM University by the University’s former Provost Andreas Cangellaris, who left the University in June 2022 to become NEOM’s founding president and “build (NEOM) from scratch.”
In an email statement to The Daily Illini, Associate Chancellor for Strategic Communications and Marketing Robin Kaler said Jones had been in Saudi Arabia from Dec. 2 to 8.
“The visit to NEOM was exploratory in nature,” Kaler said. “No formal commitments have been made, and the purpose is to evaluate whether any collaborative opportunities may align with our mission and values.”
NEOM University is part of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s larger $500 billion project, Saudi Vision 2030. The mission aims to diversify the Saudi economy away from its dependency on oil, which accounted for 87% of its budget revenue in 2022.
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NEOM intends to create over a dozen regions and large-scale projects to bring Saudi Arabia to the forefront of the technology, health and education industries, among other fields.
In an Urbana-Champaign Senate meeting on Dec. 9, Bill Bernhard, executive vice provost for academic affairs, spoke on behalf of Jones in his absence.
“Currently, our University maintains over 400 global collaborations in areas such as cooperative education, student mobility and research partnerships,” Bernhard said.
Bernhard spoke about the University’s Vision 2030 initiative — a movement unrelated to Saudi Arabia’s of the same name.
“Our University is actively seeking ways to build these collaborative relationships with universities in the Global South,” Bernhard said. “Areas where we believe that, as part of our land-grant mission, we can maximize our impact in terms of expanding knowledge and creating opportunity for millions of people.”
Bernhard said the relationship would not be an exchange of government but rather one of academic interest. He also told the U-C Senate that any agreement must uphold the University’s core values.
“I know many of you have questions about the possibility of this collaboration, and we have questions, too,” Bernhard said. “Questions about academic freedom, academic integrity, inclusivity around gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion. Chancellor Jones is there to raise these questions, and we will not make any commitment to an agreement that would force us to compromise our institutional values or the safety of our students, faculty or staff.”
These questions about Saudi Arabia’s principles are not without merit. According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Saudi Arabia had an extensive list of reported human rights issues, including “crimes involving violence … targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons.”
Still, it’s unclear what kind of relationship Jones is looking for with NEOM. The University is currently partnered with at least one other Saudi Arabian university and hosts many international students from the Middle Eastern nation.
“At present, we are proud to host 79 students from Saudi Arabia, further enriching our campus with diverse perspectives,” Bernhard said.
With Jones stepping down from his position as University Chancellor in June, students can expect to hear more about the outcome of these talks in the coming months.
“I suspect that Chancellor Jones will report back to you with information about how these meetings went when he meets with you next,” Bernhard said.
