Northern Borders University was founded in 2007. It is primarily a public sector (Government) higher education institution located in the city of Arar in Northern Border Region. The university has different campuses located in Arar, Rafha, Turayf and Al-Uwayqilah. It is officially recognized by the Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Northern Borders University (NBU) offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses and programs leading to recognized higher education degrees in several areas of study.

The Faculty of Pharmacy was established in Rafha city- northern border region in 1429 (2008) on the royal decree No. 5150/MB in 21/11/1428 H (1/12/2007) and decision of the Ministry of Higher Education No. 24/49/1429, meeting in 2/4/1429 H (8/4/2008). The Faculty of Pharmacy is one of four faculties offering a bachelor’s degrees in health specialties in addition to the faculty of medicine, faculty of nursing, and faculty of applied medical sciences. The last three colleges are found in the main branch of the norther border university (NBU) in Arar city, while faculty of pharmacy present in the NBU branch in Rafha city, 300 km away from east Arar in the Northern Border Region – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

NBU-Pharmacy college offers a bachelor’s degree in clinical pharmacy (Pharm D program). According to the national qualification framework (NQF), pharm D program is a 6 years academic program and belongs to the level six (bachelor level) of the education levels.

The faculty of pharmacy - NBU contain 5 academic departments: Department of Pharmaceutics, Department of clinical Practice, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of pharmacognosy and Alternative Medicine. Two separate campuses have been established in Rafha, one for male students and the other for male students. To date, ten batches of the students have been graduated from the faculty and serving the Kingdom in various fields and sectors of pharmacy profession like hospitals, community pharmacy, and sales and marketing of pharmaceutical products, ministry of health, Saudi FDA, drug research and developments, quality control of pharmaceutical industry.

Some graduates of the first two batches of alumni were sent abroad for masters and doctoral education to serve as faculty staff members. Majority of those have completed their education and joined the institute as faculty members.