Headquartered in Kuwait, the system is composed of 16 campuses across 9 countries: Ardiya in Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Madinah, Ḥail, Al-Ahsa in Saudi Arabia,[6] Seeb in Oman, A'ali in Bahrain, Amman in Jordan, Al-Bireh in Palestine, Beirut, Antelias, Tripoli in Lebanon,[7] El-Shorouk in Egypt and Khartoum in Sudan.

[11] Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud founded the university in December 2000.

At that same time, 6 branches were established in Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

Teaching commenced in early October 2002 in Kuwait, Jordan and Lebanon while Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Egypt started in the fall semester of 2002-2003.

The university's academic programs are focused on business, computer sciences, arts, educations and laws.