The Applied Science University (ASU) is located in Sitra, south of Manama in the Kingdom of Bahrain. ASU was founded by the Bahraini academic Waheeb Al-Khaja and owned by the Bahrain-based company Gulf Education Project W.L.L. Company. It was licensed by the Ministry of Education in 2004, becoming the first private university in the Kingdom of Bahrain and one of the first to teach in both English and Arabic.
No further than 20 minutes from even the most remote parts of Bahrain, ASU sits between Manama and Riffa, in the Central Governorate. It has four colleges: the college of administrative sciences, college of law, college of arts and sciences and college of engineering.
The university relocated to a new campus in September 2013. Spread out over an area of 24,400 square metres, it was built to host up to 6,300 students. The main building has a clock tower and all the classrooms are equipped with the latest technology.
There are design studios, lecture halls, computer labs, language and specialised laboratories, as well as a high-tech library and a state-of-the-art lecture theatre with 320 seats. The university is currently in the process of building several sports facilities including tennis, handball, volleyball, basketball and badminton courts.
ASU signed a memorandum of understanding with Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2014. In 2016, in a collaborative partnership between the two universities, the London South Bank University launched a new engineering school at ASU.
The island of Sitra’s economy used to be based on agriculture and fishing, but now the northern section has been turned into an industrial area. Bapco oil storage reservoirs are located in the south. Sitra is also the terminus of the 42-km Dhahran-Sitra natural gas pipeline, which connects it to Dahran in Saudi Arabia.
