Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University, abbreviated PMU, is a private university in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It was founded by Prince Muhammad bin Fahd, former governor of the Eastern Province. The University is accredited by the Saudi Ministry of Education and regionally by NCAAA with responsibility for determining standards and procedures for accreditation and quality assurance and accrediting postsecondary institutions and programs within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Commission is an independent authority, responsible to the Higher Council of Education. The Commission's objectives, as specified in its bylaws, include a wide range of functions associated with support for improvements of the quality of postsecondary education in all fields of learning other than defense. Internationally, the university is seeking accreditation from various accreditation bodies. Currently, the Electrical Engineering department is accredited by . Applications for accreditation of the Civil and Mechanical Engineering departments are submitted to the same accreditation body. The university was inaugurated in April 2006 and was formally opened on 8 October 2008 with bachelor's degrees in 17 academic programs, with some courses taught in Arabic and many in English. It is composed of three colleges: College of Engineering - Civil and Mechanical, initially for males only, but available also for females since the beginning of 2017, and Interior Design ; College of Business ; and College of Information Technology. In March 2008 it started an Executive EMBA program in conjunction with Maastricht School of Management. As of 17 March 2012, the affiliation with Maastricht was terminated by Maastricht. All university buildings were planned for completion in 2008, and the school planned to have a total enrollment of 5,500 by 2012. The university plant was not complete as of the summer of 2009. All administration buildings are on the men's campus and are generally off-limits to the women— faculty, staff and students. There is a small library, also segregated; the men's side is twice the size of the women's. The design is based on the American model for academic programs and administrative organization, and was developed in conjunction with the non-profit Texas International Education Consortium which organizes experts from the 32 public universities in Texas.
