Photo: Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber, Chairman of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation, and Sir Tim Lankester at the signing ceremony to mark the gift. (Photo by Hatim Oweida)

In June, Corpus received a substantial boost in its efforts to create a 150 seat auditorium on the site of the New Music room when the MBI Al Jaber Foundation announced that it would pledge £1 million towards the project. The new auditorium, which will be known as the MBI Al Jaber Building, will provide a state of the art venue for drama, musical performance and lectures, and will feature a garden roof terrace.

MBI Al Jaber, a dedicated philanthropist who has supported several other higher education institutions in Britain, has played a leading part in promoting understanding between students from conflict areas in the Middle East.

Commenting on the gift, Sir Tim said “This very generous gift goes a long way to completing the financing of our auditorium building, the single most important capital project on Corpus’s central site since the completion of the New Building in 1964. We are tremendously grateful to Sheikh Mohamed for his generosity.”