MARKING
another milestone in its progress towards becoming an academic and
research institution of excellence, the College of Agricultural & Marine
Sciences (CAMS) at Sultan Qaboos University is set to introduce PhD
programmes this year.
The proposed programmes will build on the Masters’
programmes which have been running for nine years and will complete the
hierarchy of academic programmes offered by the college. The major
objective of the PhD programmes is to offer advanced research training
in agricultural, marine and food sciences in order to build capacity in
the Sultanate.
Initially the PhD programmes will be offered by four
departments, Soils, Water & Agricultural Engineering, Food Science &
Nutrition, Crop Sciences and Marine Science & Fisheries. Other
departments in the College will follow later. The College has all the
necessary resources to offer doctoral programmes, including excellent
laboratory facilities, the agricultural experiment station and a
research vessel. With the introduction of these new advanced programmes
the College will have further improved library facilities, technical
support and streamlining of procurement procedures for research
materials.
The PhD programmes in the college will follow the
research model and be based on a research thesis. This model is widely
used in the UK, European countries, Australia, South Africa and
elsewhere. It is expected that doctoral programmes, implemented to the
highest academic standards, would enhance the capability of the college
in addressing the national and regional issues of sustainable
development in the fields of agricultural and marine sciences. The
implementation of the new programmes will also reduce Omani nationals’
current dependence on foreign institutions for PhD studies.
Specialisations available for PhD programmes include
water resource management, ground water, irrigation, agricultural
engineering, post-harvest technology, food engineering, food processing,
food safety, human nutrition, plant pathology, entomology, horticulture,
plant biotechnology, plant breeding, agronomy, marine science, fisheries
and coastal ecology.
The PhD programmes will include at least three years of
full-time supervised research. Other requirements include the
presentation of a detailed proposal, seminars and acceptance of at least
one paper for publication in an international journal. Students may be
expected to spend a semester abroad working with an external supervisor
in order to broaden their experience. The students seeking admission
should possess a masters’ degree from a recognised university and have a
strong academic record.
The College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences enjoys the
highest per capita research support and research output at Sultan Qaboos
University and more than half of the faculty already have supervisory
experience in doctoral programmes. The College of Agricultural & Marine
Sciences was one of the founding colleges when Sultan Qaboos University
was established in 1986.
The main themes of the college have always been food
production and environment sustainability. Over the 22 years since its
inception, the College has grown and diversified, with well established
programmes now covering the agricultural, marine and food science
disciplines in eight masters’ programmes and 10 undergraduate majors.
At present, the student intake is above 300 annually and
the total student strength is above one thousand. The College has an
outstanding research record also. Research based publications, levels of
funding from internal and external grants and contractual research
activities are amongst the highest in the university and are competitive
with overseas universities. Most recently the UNESCO Chair in Marine
Biotechnology has been established in the College and it is anticipated
that major multi-disciplinary research activities will be developed in
this field of science.