MUSCAT -- The 14th University Day of Sultan Qaboos University, which commemorates the visit of His Majesty the Sultan to the university on May 2, 2000, was celebrated yesterday with a number of activities.
The main ceremony was held under the auspices of Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications. On the occasion, the university honoured a total of 157 academicians, researchers, administrative, technical and medical staff for outstanding achievements in respective fields.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ali bin Saud al Bimani, the Vice Chancellor of the university, highlighted the future plans of the university and reminisced its achievements during the current academic year. "The university has adopted a strategic plan to augment its strategic objectives. According to what has been achieved in research in the previous five-year plan, the university council addressed to formulate a long term strategic plan for the university until 2040 that matches with "Oman vision 2040. This strategic plan will be the main strategic framework and road map for the next 25 years. The long term plan will be interpreted into five-year medium-term plans for the next 25 years, including initiatives, programmes and performance indicators", the Vice Chancellor said.
"The strategic plan will focus on research and put a strategic goal to conduct internationally recognised research which has an influence on social and economic development of the Sultanate. To achieve this goal seven strategies are set, which focus on applied and interface research, in order to respond to the needs of the community and development of the nation, research cooperation with industry sector, research collaboration at national, regional and international levels, innovation and accreditation of international indicators to assess the activity of research," Al Bimani added.
Speaking about students' achievements, Al Bimani said that students from the College of Engineering received Bronze Medal at the 6th International Invention Fair for Middle East, Kuwait, for their invention, the electronic encyclopedia which contains a book and an educational game. "A student from the College of Engineering won the first place in the research competition, which accompanied the 3rd International Conference on Renewable Energy held at the United Arab Emirates University. Team from the College of Science and College of Engineering won the first place at the Middle East regional level of the Imperial Barrel Award contest, which is organised annually by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Two students from the College of Science received Gold Medal in the 42nd International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. A student from the College of law received Arab Youth Council Award for Integrated Development, League of Arab States, in the field of voluntary and service work. Students from the College of law achieved advanced levels at the Fictitious Trail in the level of Arab World, held in Qatar," the Vice Chancellor said.
"For its contributions in the fields of medical education, research and health care services, SQU hospital got Canada International Accreditation in the Golden level of health care institutions. A medical team from the SQU Hospital successfully treated the first case of pregnancy infected by familial hypercholesterolemia; the first of its kind in the world. College of Medicine and Health Sciences achieved international academic accreditation for its medical undergraduate programme, from the Association for Medical Education in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (AMEEMR) in association with the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME)", he added.
With regard to new projects, the university is proceeding with the construction of additional building for the College of Education and the University Hospital parking project. Construction of Oman eco-house project, funded by the Research Council in collaboration with the College of Engineering, and the milker project in Agricultural Experiments Station, is also under way, the Vice Chancellor concluded. Dr Al Futaisi, later opened an exhibition on research at SQU carried out by various colleges and research centers and coordinated by the Deanship of Research.
© Oman Daily Observer 2014
