Effat Universityis the first non-profit private university in Saudi Arabia which offers American style education that is deeply founded in liberal arts education. It aims to inspire leaders of the future to become living ambassadors for the legacy of Queen Effat Al-Thunayan Al-Saud, her founder. The mission of the university is to prepare aspirational and effective leaders of international quality who contribute to national and global progress by interweaving Effat University Core Values into an innovative education which creates a culture of broad inquiry, intellectual engagement, and valuable societal impact.
In 1999, the university started offering its first academic programs in English under the name of Effat College. In January 2009, Effat College acquired University status as a private institution of higher education for women. Effat University has four colleges - Effat College of Business, Effat College of Architecture and Design, Effat College of Engineering, and Effat College of Humanities. Currently, the four colleges house 13 undergraduate programs and 5 master degrees and one PhD program.
Effat University is committed to offering exclusive programs that empower the youth to excel in new areas of study that have not been offered to them before. Such programs include Entrepreneurship, Product Design, Masters in Finance with a track in Islamic Finance and Energy Engineering which were the first of their kind when they were first introduced by the university, thus paving the way for other universities in the kingdom to follow this lead in offering such specialties.
Starting 2019-2020, Effat University opened its doors to male graduate students and in Spring 2022 it opened its doors to male undergraduate students as well. Thus, helping students from both genders achieve educational excellence.
Effat University has a diverse faculty and student body that has more than 35 nationalities which helps enrich the educational environmental and graduate global citizens that are capable of penetrating the labor market confidently and successfully. Around 75% of Effat University graduates are employed and/or pursuing graduate studies nationally and internationally.