Nearly 700 students from 63 nations and 220 different undergraduate institutions have arrived at KAUST to resume their studies or to be part of the new 2010 intake. 10% of this year’s postgraduates bring families with them.

As with the inaugural intake, the student body is varied and includes postgraduates from the Kingdom, the wider Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas. Of the undergraduate universities represented last year, half have graduates beginning studies at KAUST in 2010.

Many of this year’s graduate students have come from in kingdom educational institutions of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals and King Abdulaziz University. Additionally, the remainder of the student body come to KAUST from institutions as varied as the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil; Trinity College, Dublin; and the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.