His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday inaugurated a new faculty for engineering at the Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT).

The faculty, which offers several BA and MA degrees, is called the King Abdullah II Faculty for Engineering.

During the visit, Her Royal Highness Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, chairperson of the university’s board of trustees, briefed King Abdullah on PSUT’s development and progress since its establishment in 1991.

His Majesty was also briefed on upcoming plans by the university, which has obtained accreditation by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.

The King was acquainted with the university’s plans to build research centres and centres of excellence to enhance students’ skills.

In a speech at a ceremony marking the opening of the new faculty, Princess Sumaya said the university is keen on realising His Majesty’s vision in making Jordan a knowledge-based economy, a matter that requires investing in human capital to make radical changes in the Kingdom.

“Seeking to build a knowledge-based economy means developing Jordanian human resources to enable them to start productive projects,” the princess said, calling for incubating creative ideas and encouraging them.

Such creative ideas should be viewed as intellectual property that needs to be protected as trade secrets and as patents and trademarks, she stressed.

Princess Sumaya noted that education establishments are required to create a proper atmosphere that nurtures research, graduating students who contribute to the Kingdom’s sustainable development.

PSUT President Issa Batarseh outlined the university’s achievements over the past 22 years, as well as the university’s plans that seek to focus on the quality of graduates.

The university, he said, plans to focus on higher education studies and introduce new majors in the upcoming stage, adding that it is ready to open centres in the field of Arabic content, mobile computing, solar energy and entrepreneurship.

A documentary about PSUT’s achievements was screened at the ceremony, during which the King was presented with a copy of the accreditation that the university obtained.

Some of the university’s current students and graduates highlighted their success stories, and briefed His Majesty on their projects.

At the end of the ceremony, the King met with students who took part in the ACM Programming Contest.

The Jordanian students qualified to the international competition’s final stage and will take part in a related summit in Russia next year.