The University of Birmingham Dubai has appointed Pacific Ltd to supply and install audio-visual systems across its new Dubai campus.
The UK-based company will provide a range of equipment across all teaching spaces and meeting rooms in its ultra-modern building, which is due to open in September 2021.
Pacific has worked closely with University of Birmingham Dubai staff to design systems so that the user experience for students, visitors and staff will be comparable to that of the University’s Birmingham campus.
The Teaching and Learning Innovation Zone on campus will be equipped with AVoIP (Audio-Video over Internet Protocol) technology giving students and staff great flexibility – allowing live streaming of lectures and events throughout the Innovation Zone, which includes an interactive lecture theatre, an enhanced IT cluster and large flexible seminar rooms.
University of Birmingham Dubai Provost, Professor David Sadler, said: “Pacific will help us to deliver a flexible and powerful teaching environment in Dubai that students and staff will enjoy. Colleagues coming from our Birmingham campus to teach in Dubai will feel immediately at home in our teaching spaces.
“Everyone – students and staff alike – is eagerly looking forward to moving into our brand-new, bespoke campus building later this year. We believe that, in our new academic home, we will deliver an educational experience like no other in Dubai.”
The hi-tech lectern rack builds will be completed in the UK by Visualizations Ltd – Pacific Computing’s partners – before being shipped complete to Dubai, ready to ‘plug and play’.
Designed to reflect real-world working practices, the new campus will encourage students to carry out research in interdisciplinary teams across all academic subjects. Flexible study spaces will ensure students have a learning environment suited to their needs, whether in large lecture theatres and laboratories or smaller seminar and tutorial rooms.
Smart sensors across teaching spaces will map people flows – allowing the most efficient use of the buildings. Students will be able to structure their time on campus through dedicated mobile apps and smart scheduling.
With architecture inspired by the historic Aston Webb buildings on the Birmingham campus, the facilities will use shaded open-air courtyard spaces to create an enjoyable and productive student experience. The buildings will sit next to parkland offering sports pitches and an open-air event space, whilst new student accommodation is a short walk away, across the parkland.