Cairo  - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah is expected to open a university for science and technology on Wednesday, the product of 25 years of planning and a reported 10 billion dollars in investment.

"It is my desire that this new university becomes one of the world's great institutions of research; that it educates and trains the future generations of scientists, engineers and technologists; and that it fosters, on the basis of merit and excellence, collaboration and cooperation," King Adbdullah said in a statement posted to the university's website.

Saudi newspapers have reported that the king has endowed the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) with 10 billion dollars as a "waqf," or religious endowment, that future governments will not be able to redirect. If so, KAUST would be among the richest universities in the world.

Workers have been busy planting hundreds of trees and flowers on KAUST's ultra-modern campus on the Red Sea coast, some 80 kilometres north of Jeddah, ahead of the scheduled opening Wednesday evening.

The government has relaxed normally stringent restrictions on visas for international journalists in an attempt to boost coverage of Wednesday's planned opening ceremony.

Several world leaders, King Abdullah and Saudi Oil Minister Ali Ibrahim al-Naimi, chairman of KAUST's board of directors, are expected to attend.

The school's president, Choon Fong Shih, the former head of Singapore's national university, is also scheduled to speak.

The school's first 374 students from around the world, who are all pursuing graduate research degrees on full scholarships, have already moved in to their residences on the campus. Administrators hope that the university will have 2,000 students by 2020. The palm-lined campus can accommodate 20,000 residents.

The school has already struck partnerships with leading scientific research universities around the world, and with corporate giants Dow Chemical, General Electric and IBM, in keeping with its mission to conduct research that can be put to practical use.

King Abdullah has said he first conceived of the project 25 years ago. The campus was erected out of the desert in just over two years.

Saudi religious conservatives have expressed unease about the university's attempts to attract international scholars. Women will not be required to cover their faces at the school. In contrast to the rest of the country, female students and faculty will be able to drive and to mix freely with men. (dpa)