A first of its kind BD900,000 ($2.39 million) media centre was officially opened at the Bahrain University campus, Sakhir.

The event was held under the patronage of Education Minister Dr Majid Al Nuaimi and attended by university president Dr Ibrahim Janahi and other top officials.

Dr Al Nuaimi said the state-of-the-art Bahrain Credit Media Centre could be confidently called the first of its kind in the Gulf because of its advanced equipment.

'The centre is a developed fruitful field for education and innovation.

'It is the product of collaboration between the university and Bahrain Credit Company.

'The company is one of the most important in the private and public sectors to be followed as a paragon of development and construction of our society.'

Dr Janahi revealed the university had received a BD420,000 endowment from the company to fund the centre, which cost more than BD900,000 when taking into account furniture and equipment.

'It is equipped with production studios, laboratories, smart classrooms, practical work rooms, a theatre and human and artistic potentials.

'It is the first academic media centre in the Arab world,' Dr Janahi said.

'It will enable us to carry out a string of functions through its facilities which can be summarised into six functions - accurate teaching in the smart classrooms, advanced training in the laboratories, professional production in the studios, scientific research in communication and holding academic seminars and conferences as well as festivals, competitions, photography exhibitions and fine arts events.'

He said the centre's work would be supervised by professors in the media, public relations and design industries.

'There will be experts in media production, marketing, video, light and sound engineering, theatre and television production and multimedia,' he said.-TradeArabia News Service