Educating Saudi Women

Haifa Jamal Al-Lail, a native of Saudi Arabia, joined Effat University in 1998 and began her tenure as president in May 2008. She was named one of 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 and is the winner of the Distinguished Arab Woman Award in 2005. A respected author and researcher, she is well known for her expertise in privatization and empowerment of women. She is the author of a number of articles and has developed and taught undergraduate and graduate courses on topics such as public administration and public policy. 

Before joining Effat University, Al-Lail was the first dean of girls’ campus in King Abdulaziz University. She was a visiting scholar at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2001. She participated in the Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration at Bryn Mawr College in 2000. She received a PhD in public policy from the University of Southern California (USC).

IE: Can you describe Effat University and how you became its president?

HAIFA JAMAL AL-LAIL: Effat University is a private nonprofit institution in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It started in 1999 with the vision of Queen Effat, the wife of the late King Faisal. She was really a leader in education. She’s the one who established the first female high school in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I’m also a graduate of that. The name of the school is Dar al-Hanan School. It was established in 1955. From that time