The University of Bahrain ( ar, جامعة البحرين , informally Bahrain University, abbreviated as UOB) is the largest

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

in the

Kingdom of Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ad ...

with campuses in

Sakhir Sakhir ( ) is a desert area located in the Southern Governorate of Bahrain, near Zallaq. It contains the Al-Sakhir Palace, built in 1870. Camping in Sakhir during the winter months is a popular activity in the country. Notable sites In the earl ...

Isa Town Isa Town ( ar, مدينة عيسى, ''Madīnat ʿĪsā'') is a middle class town located in Bahrain, in the north central part of the country. Etymology The name ''Isa'' refers to Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifah, the ruler of Bahrain from 1961 to 1999 ...

and

Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...

, the university has more than 20,000 registered students and over 2,000 staff members. The university is a member of the

International Association of Universities The International Association of Universities (IAU) is a membership-led non-governmental organization working in the field of higher education. It comprises more than 600 higher education institutions and organizations in over 130 countries. IAU ...

and the

Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO, formerly ISESCO) is a specialized organization that operates under the aegis of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and is concerned with fields of education ...

History

The University of Bahrain was established in 1986 as a result of Amiri Decree No. 12 /1986. The decree resulted in the merger of two public colleges; the Gulf Polytechnic (previously established in 1968) and the University College of Arts, Science and Education (established in 1979).

Campus

The university has three campuses. Its main campus in

covers an area of 103657m2 and houses all the colleges except the Colleges of Health Science and Engineering. The College of Health Sciences is based in a campus next to the

Salmaniya Medical Complex Salmaniya Medical Complex ( ar, مجمع السلمانية الطبي) is a public hospital situated in the Salmaniya district of Manama in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Established in 1957 and having a bed capacity of approximately 1,200 beds, it is ...

. The College of Engineering is based in a campus alongside the Bahrain Polytechnic. The university owns a total of 66 buildings, 240 classrooms, 183 labs, and three gymnasiums. The university has four libraries, with the Central Library having an estimated 250,000 books in stock. The library also has access to the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

database.

Colleges

The University of Bahrain receives US$110 million as a budget from the Bahraini government. The university itself consists of 10 constituent colleges: *S1A - College of Arts *S1B - College of Business Administration *S20B & S20C - College of Applied Studies *S20A - College of Physical Education & Physiotherapy *S22 - Bahrain Teachers College (BTC) *S39 - College of Law *S40 - College of Information Technology *S41 - College of Science *College of Engineering (Isa Town) * College of Health Sciences

Other buildings

Aside from colleges; the university includes other buildings around the main Sakhir campus for different purposes: *S37 - Admission & Registration *S17 - The Department of English Language and Literature & the Students Council Center *I14 - Engineering *I15 - Engineering *S18 - Exams Hall *S20 - The English Language Center *S47 - The IT & Science Library *Swimming Pool (Physical Education) *The Bahrain Credit Media Center *Zain E-Learning Center *The Confucius Institute for Chinese Language Courses *The King Sejong Institute for Korean Language Courses *Student & Teachers' Apartments *Gulf University Society Center *Printing Center

Academia

The university offers more than 102 academic programs, including 42 Bachelor programs, 39 Master's degrees, 10 PhDs and 11 associate diplomas.

Credit hour Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), ...

s vary between courses and degree level (126-135 credit hours for bachelor's degrees, for example). The university admits 15,000 students per annum, 80% of whom start in September. The university's admission criteria generally require a high school score of 70%, in addition to other criteria imposed by some colleges.

Research

Since 1986, more than 5,000 research papers and books were published by academics in the university, 80% of which was produced by the Colleges of Science and Engineering respectively. The university allocates US$11 million annually towards research and supports 38 full-time research personnel. More than 500 Masters thesis was published since the university's inception.

Reputation

The university consistently ranks as the first nationally, 23rd amongst Arab universities and 801-1000 internationally according to

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...

as of 2020.

Student life

The university has 30,317 registered students at the start of the 2014/15 academic year, more than 65% of whom are female. 10.5% of the student population are international students. There were an estimated 700 events and activities in the 2012–13 academic year. The university has a

student council A student council (also known as a student union, associated student body or student parliament) is an administrative organization of students in different educational institutes ranging from elementary schools to universities and research or ...

elected annually, with each constituent college electing a representative.

Notable alumni

Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa ( ar, سلمان بن ابراهيم آل خليفة; born 2 November 1965) is a member of the House of Khalifa, the royal family of Bahrain. He has been president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) sin ...

, President of the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

Mohamed Ali Hasan Ali Mohamed Ali Hasan Ali ( ar, محمد علي حسن علي) is a Bahraini politician who is currently a Member of the Consultative Council. He was educated at the University of Bahrain (BSc Chemistry and Physics, 1983) and the University of Eas ...

, Member of the Consultative Council

References

;Bibliography * *

External links

University of BahrainUniversity of Bahrain

UOB-BH Students' e-CommunityUoB's Web Ranking
{{DEFAULTSORT:University of Bahrain Educational institutions established in 1986 1986 establishments in Bahrain