Working towards a doctorate in Sustainable Development makes Mohammad a pioneer. Already qualified as an architect, he’ll take this new expertise back to King Saud University, where he hopes to set up the first courses in sustainability in Saudi Arabia, as well as providing consultant services to the national government.
His earlier Master’s degree at UNSW was also something of a first. Arriving in 2004, he was among the first 100 or so students from Saudi Arabia to study in Australia and has since been joined by his wife, his brother and sister in law, also postgraduates. Muslim students have been studying at UNSW since the first arrivals from Indonesia and Malaysia in the 1950s. However, enrollments from the Middle East have jumped fourfold in the last two years, reflecting an increasing awareness of the quality of Australian education and a trend away from United States universities. Australian Government statistics show growth in enrolments of Gulf State students of 500 percent since 2002 “UNSW has long had appropriate facilities on campus for Muslim students and is popular among local Australian-born Muslim students,” says Simon Watson, from UNSW International, citing plans to build an Islamic college at the university. “Petroleum engineering, civil engineering and construction and water resources management are among popular courses. There is a growing realisation among the Gulf States of the need for sustainable practices and good resource management,” he said. UNSW is a member of the Group of Eight of Australia’s leading research universities and has recently been ranked no 1 in the world for accounting research. It also a world leader in sustainability and renewable energy and holds the world record for solar energy efficiency.

THE hundreds of Muslims students at UNSW are happy with the rapid expansion of the university’s Islamic Society; but the new numbers do pose certain practical challenges. The UNSW Mosque, for example, can accommodate some 40 men and 20 women.
This Friday prayers are attended by more than 400; so a large terrace area over looking the tennis courts has been commandeered and covered with mats. A couple of decades ago, a handful of Muslim students made do with a quiet corner in the library to pray, under the curious eyes of local students.
These days, Muslim students are well integrated into campus life. There’s the Islamic Society, regular talks and meetings and connections with Islamic groups across Sydney and on other campuses. Sydney’s Muslim community is growing too. The city boasts 25 mosques and six of seven halal restaurants, plus a handful of halal butchers, have sprung up around the UNSW campus to meet demand. It’s Ramadan, and there’s no special dispensation for fasting students. But, students meet every evening to break fast together, contributing food or funds for the celebration. “In the past we might have had 30 people to break the fast, this week we have about 150 every night,” said Mohammed Waleed Kadous, Executive member of the UNSW Islamic Society. The biggest groups of Muslims students at UNSW are Australian born. But, international students and locals pray together, so there is a readymade network here for them to join, he says. The Islamic Society has over 420 members from 25 countries.