University of New Haven – Riyadh and Mawhiba, a Saudi Nonprofit Foundation for Gifted Students, Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Develop Scholarships and Summer Academies

The University of New Haven – Riyadh (NHU-Riyadh) and Mawhiba, the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity, have signed a memorandum of understanding to support Saudi Arabia’s most gifted students at NHU-Riyadh and at the University’s main campus in Connecticut. The memorandum was signed in Riyadh on 27 July 2026 by Leo Lester, Ph.D., senior vice president for NHU-Riyadh, on behalf of the University of New Haven, and His Excellency Abdulaziz Alkaridis, Secretary General of Mawhiba.

Under the memorandum, outstanding Mawhiba students admitted to undergraduate degrees at NHU-Riyadh could benefit from scholarships that the two organizations intend to develop together. The organizations also seek to cooperate on academic enrichment and summer academies in the Kingdom for gifted school and university students. In addition, Mawhiba’s most exceptional students could have access to summer programs at the University’s main campus in Connecticut, and Mawhiba staff could receive training and executive education.

Mawhiba is a Saudi nonprofit foundation established in 1999 to identify and nurture gifted and creative students. Affiliated with the King Abdullah Humanitarian Foundation, Mawhiba runs enrichment, competition, and university-preparation programs in support of the Saudi Vision 2030.

“A Mawhiba scholarship to study at NHU-Riyadh could enable some of the Kingdom’s brightest young people to earn a University of New Haven degree without leaving home,” said Jens Frederiksen, Ph.D., president of the University of New Haven. “We are proud to help prepare outstanding Saudi students to lead the Kingdom’s future workforce. That is what we came here to do.”

“Mawhiba has spent more than 25 years identifying the Kingdom’s most promising young people,” said Leo Lester, Ph.D., senior vice president for NHU-Riyadh. “This memorandum seeks to open both of our campuses to them through enrichment and summer academies in the Kingdom, scholarships to study at NHU-Riyadh, and summer study in Connecticut for the most exceptional. We can meet a gifted student at school age and stay with them all the way to graduation.”

NHU-Riyadh opens this fall at Misk City with the College of Business and Digital Innovation, the first of three colleges planned in Riyadh.