It is hard to believe Bahrain sought [2] to become a global education hub as recently as 2006 & 2007. See, for example, this Observatory on Borderless Higher Education [3] report released in January 2007:

• A fifth transnational hub for the Gulf: Bahrain announces plans to create a ‘Higher Education City’ [4]

Welcome to Bahrain, circa December 2011:
 

Bahrain's reputation is in tatters a mere four years later, and the ruling Khalifa family is showing no signs of being able to coordinate a genuine reform agenda.

Those of you interested in up-to-date developments in Bahrain are advised to track the #Bahrain hashtag on Twitter [5]...a veritable feast of links to commentary, analysis, arguments, information, and video clips. Also see, of course, the independent commission report [6] that investigated the 2011 uprising and its aftermath (the 513 page report is summarized here by the New York Times [7], 23 November 2011).