Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University is a public women’s university in Riyadh. It grew out of the first women’s college in the city, founded in 1970, and is named after the sister of King Abdulaziz.
The university awards academic scholarships to non-Saudi women through two routes. The external route is for applicants living outside Saudi Arabia and carries the full package of stipend, housing, health care and flights. The internal route is for non-Saudi women who already live in the kingdom on a valid residence permit, and they pay tuition.
Both routes run through the Ministry of Education’s Study in Saudi platform and cover every bachelor’s field except the health specialties. External applicants from non-Arab countries need a B2 Arabic result to start a bachelor’s directly; otherwise they begin in the university’s two-year Arabic diploma.
Benefits & funding
- A free study place under the Ministry of Education’s full-scholarship rules, with university housing and academic, social, cultural and training support.
- A monthly stipend at the rate paid to Saudi students; the university does not publish the figure.
- A two-month settling-in allowance on arrival and a three-month graduation allowance for shipping books home.
- A yearly book allowance worth one month’s stipend, paid for the regular length of the program only.
- SAR 1,000 a year (SAR 500 per semester) for students graded “Excellent”.
- Health care for the whole period of study, and access to discounted meals.
- The entry flight refunded, capped at the fare allowed for students from the same country, plus a ticket home at the end of each academic year.
- Study-visa fees paid by the university for students admitted in 1448 AH (2026–27).
- Tuition per semester: SAR 17,500 for engineering and for computer and information sciences; SAR 12,500–17,500 for sciences; SAR 12,500–15,000 for business administration; SAR 12,500 for sports sciences; SAR 10,000–15,000 for arts and design; SAR 10,000 for languages, education and human development, and humanities and social sciences.
- These fees exclude 15% VAT.
- Bachelor’s programs run four years; the Arabic diploma runs two.
Eligibility
- Non-Saudi women of any nationality.
- Age 17 to 25, for bachelor’s programs and for the Arabic diploma.
- A secondary-school certificate or equivalent, obtained within the last five years.
- No earlier scholarship from any educational institution in Saudi Arabia, no previous academic record at the university, and no dismissal from a Saudi institution.
- Medically fit under the required examination.
- All bachelor’s fields are open except the health specialties.
- External route: living outside Saudi Arabia; a secondary certificate attested by the Saudi cultural mission in the issuing country; a good-conduct certificate, or two recommendation letters from recognised bodies at home; a criminal-record clearance; and an official government approval letter where the home country requires one.
- External route, Arab countries: engineering, computer and information sciences, science and business administration need a secondary GPA of at least 98/100, plus SAT 1330/1600 or ACT 29/36 and set AP scores; humanities programs need at least 95/100.
- External route, non-Arab countries: B2 in the Hamza Academic Test of Arabic for direct bachelor’s entry. Graduates of high schools in countries where English is an official language may enter English-taught programs by meeting the academic thresholds above. Everyone else joins the Arabic diploma, with no guarantee of moving up to a bachelor’s.
- Internal route: a valid Saudi residence permit (iqama), plus the General Aptitude Test and the Achievement Test from the National Center.
Can you apply?
Here's who can apply
Decoded from the official rules. A free account checks them against your passport, degree and age in seconds.
Education required
High School
Gender requirement
Female
Age requirement
17–25 yrs
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Application process
- 1Pick the route: external if you live outside Saudi Arabia, internal if you hold a valid Saudi residence permit.
- 2Gather the external documents: attested secondary certificate and transcript with an Arabic translation, passport, good-conduct certificate or two recommendation letters, criminal-record clearance, government approval letter, and a medical report issued within three months before applying.
- 3Apply on the Ministry of Education’s Study in Saudi platform (studyinsaudi.moe.gov.sa), choose Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, and upload every document as PDF or JPEG within the announced window.
- 4External applicants: the university then requests the Ministry’s final approval of the admission.
- 5Internal applicants: pay tuition after final acceptance, and before the start of each semester.
Program timeline
the two application windows still listed on the university’s Arabic scholarship page, the latest dates it publishes.
14 July–27 August 2023 and 14 August–27 September 2023
the university pays study-visa fees for external students admitted this year.
1448 AH (2026–27)
Next cycle
windows are announced each year on the Study in Saudi platform; the university site does not post the current dates.