How the Engineering Faculty of the National University of Bahrain has developed

Bahrain has a glorious history of establishing the educational system in Arab peninsula. The first educational institution for boys in the Kingdom of Bahrain was established in 1962. Later on, another educational institution for girls was established. The government of Bahrain assumed the importance of higher education in the country and merged these two institutes to form a college named the Gulf Polytechnic College. Gradually, this college established as the University of Bahrain. Now it is the largest educational institution in the country that provides diploma, bachelor, master and some PhD degrees. However, the national University of Bahrain is recognized by the world due to its advanced course curricula and research based programs. The university trustees and deans of relative faculties regularly refine and update the course curricula to meet the demand of time.

The College of engineering science at the National University of Bahrain owes its bases to the Gulf Technical Institute, which was founded in 1968, which afterward became the Gulf Polytechnic College in February 1981 and comprised of the Colleges of engineering science and Business Administration. An Amiri Decree Number 12 was published to demonstrate the University by a fusion of the Gulf Polytechnic College and the Bahrain College. The Faculty of Engineering comprises of four sections, viz., the Chemical Engineering Department, the Electrical and Electronics Engineering department, the Civil Engineering and Architecture Department, and the Mechanical Engineering department. The Faculty of Engineering is situated in the Isa Town campus of the University but it programs to move to the Sakhir town Campus by 2013. The faculty of Engineering provides eight BSc programs. These are Interior Design, Architecture, Chemical Engineering, Process Instrumentation and Control Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Electronics Engineering. The last mentioned six engineering curricula are recognized by ABET until 2014-2015.

The Architecture syllabus is setting up for accreditation (real equivalency) by NAAB and the interior decoration program is preparing for authorization by CIDA. The Faculty of Engineering also provides MSc and PhD degrees in Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. The total number of scholars registered in the College programs on the fall semester of 2009/2010 academic year was 1440 scholars. About 60% of the students are females and 40% are female students. Most of the students are registered in undergrad programs. However, according to the new plan of the National University of Bahrain, the percentage of the postgraduates will be expanded in the falling years. The total number of academics in the College is about a hundred, which gives a mean student to faculty ratio of approximately 14.