AUS Department of Mass Communication unveils new studio facility

Students at American University of Sharjah now have access to a new on-campus state-of-the-art audio-visual studio for carrying out video assignments. The Department of Mass Communication at the AUS College of Arts and Sciences unveiled the studio facility today, November 18, 2015.

The one-million dirham studio was officially inaugurated by Dr. Björn Kjerfve, AUS Chancellor. Also present were Interim Provost Kevin Mitchell; senior university officials; faculty and students.

"This will be an excellent facility in educating and entertaining our students in the years to come and in recruiting new students," said Dr. Kjerfve.

The officials were given a guided tour of the facility which houses a control room, an audio production room, a studio floor, a video editing space and a student discussion lounge. The control room is equipped with a vision mixer, an audio mixer, a lighting control system, two display screens, an audio editing system, three camera control units and an inter-com system. The audio room has an interview table and microphones while the editing space has three video editing suites. The students' lounge includes seating space for students' brain-storming sessions and creative planning. The studio floor, around 50 square meters in area, contains a blue screen, three studio cameras, 10 lighting units and an anchoring desk. The facility has acoustic panels to ensure the best sound quality for production.

Interim Provost Mitchell encouraged current students to make the best use of the new facility. He also thanked Dr. Mahmoud Anabtawi, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, for successfully undertaking and executing this project, along with the alumni who supported the initiative.

"The new facility will be used by students to produce talk shows, newscasts, interviews, stand-up presentations, video commercials, audio shows and more," said Dr. Mohammad Ayish, Professor and Head of the Department of Mass Communication.

The facility is expected to bolster students' engagement with audio-video production and to enhance production standards in video-based courses.