Dubai: Having access to equipment and facilities which are up to speed with industry standards goes a long way to prepare students for the real world.
Zayed University's mass communication students now have an edge over many other institutions with the launch of a Dh2.8 million multimedia lab at the Dubai campus in Academic City.
The lab is supported by telecommunications company du as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts. The company helped establish and develop the lab.
Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and President of Zayed University, inaugurated the official opening of the lab last week.
"Nurturing the abilities of today's students in a realistic work-like environment is vital to ensuring their easy integration into the workforce. With this multimedia lab, du has developed an essential tool to ensure that Zayed University's' College of Communication and Media Sciences are given the very best start to their future careers," said Shaikh Nahyan.
Du CEO Osman Sultan said: "We support and embrace the talent of young Emiratis to help them realise their full potential. By developing the multimedia lab, we are giving students the tools that they need to go on and be successful in their future media careers."
Feel for real world
Maryam Al Ansari, a Zayed University graduate and now a digital technician, said the state-of-the-art studio and facilities was a first for the institution.
"The courses and everything else are developed to match what we have here."
She said students have been in the lab since the beginning of the semester to learn how to do interviews and research to compile programmes for television, radio, web and print media.
Does the lab give students a real feel for the world of media? "We can easily do a decent and good TV programme with this equipment. When you go to a TV station, for example, there are certain jobs and tasks that you should fulfil and here we have everything from lighting to mixers for audio, video, everything," said Maryam.
Hanan Mohammad, a mass communication student, said although the industry has moved to a digital format, students are still exposed to analogue "so we learn the beginning of everything."
