Qatar's Education City, perhaps the world's most diverse campus, is almost entirely unknown in the United States, but represents the next step in the globalization of American higher education--international franchising. Aided by technology such as online libraries, distance learning and streaming video, U.S. universities offer--and charge tuition for--a combination of live and digital education that is supposedly indistinguishable in quality from that received on the home campuses. The exportation of U.S. education could bring tremendous educational opportunities and financial gain for universities. However no one is precisely sure how this bold experiment will turn out. Education City is the brainchild of the ambitious and popular Qatari royal family, the Al-Thanis, who run this enormously wealthy country of 800,000 people. Qatar, a neighbor of Saudi Arabia, rests on a rich bed of oil and natural gas, and the Qatari royal family has spent billions building Education City, traveling the globe courting top universities and companies. As part of the deal with American universities, the Qatari royal family is footing the entire bill, from constructing architecturally stunning lecture halls to paying professors' travel, housing and salaries. They have also agreed to take a "hands-off" approach in regards to content and course material. This intellectual openness, while unusual in the Arab world, is part of Qatar's broader plan to "reclaim the luster of Arab education after centuries in the dark ages," say planners. Education City is overseen by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, a nonprofit organization, based in Doha. Approximately half the students in Education City are Qatari, and the rest represent more than a dozen nations, mostly in the Middle East, although there are one or two American students enrolled.