LAU takes its graduate degrees to Oman
The University Enterprise Office will coordinate the delivery of master’s degrees in graphic design and management in the Sultanate of Oman, on the premises of the Scientific College of Design.
“We have received magnificent support from LAU,” says Dr. Mona Ismail, dean of the Sultanate of Oman’s Scientific College of Design (SCD), characterizing the relationship between the university and the Muscat-based college. This past week, Ismail visited both the Beirut and Byblos campuses, meeting with LAU administrators in an effort to further deepen the ties between the two institutions.
Due to its status as a college, SCD is not entitled to offer graduate school programs which the Omani Ministry of Higher Education mandates can only be provided by the Sultanate’s universities. “Hence, we will be offering LAU master’s degrees in graphic design and management,” says Dr. Walid Touma, director of LAU’s University Enterprise Office (UEO) who is in charge of coordinating the engagement. During her visit, Ismail met with the LAU administration to “put in place the wheels for finalizing the applications in order to launch these two LAU programs in Fall 2017.”
LAU has been actively involved in the development of SCD since its inception in 2004, when the Omani side contracted with the university to extend academic coverage for the newly-created design school. According to Touma, for the past 12 years UEO, along with both LAU’s School of Architecture and Design and School of Arts and Sciences, has overseen a range of services that have included developing programs in Graphic Design, Interior Design, Fine Arts, and English, as well as guiding the quality of implementation, and the integration of the courses.
Ismail points out that the partnership has been beneficial to SCD on multiple levels. “The college has welcomed regular visits from LAU faculty members, conducting workshops, helping and assessing student work, and providing faculty development for our own instructors,” she explains.
As SCD has grown from a student body of 64 in 2004 to a campus hosting 1,400 students today, the relationship with LAU continues to grow at a dynamic pace. Together, “we have worked on adding three new programs to the roster of degrees at SCD, including Architecture, Photography and Animation,” says Ismail. While these curricula are run by SCD with various levels of support from LAU, the graduate degrees will be strictly issued and awarded by LAU, according to Touma.
Ismail is confident that the new LAU degrees are only “the beginning of a series of graduate programs” delivered on the SCD premises that LAU plans to introduce over the next few years. Touma shares the same vision of continuing and evolving this cooperation with the Gulf college. “The relationship that we have built and the trust we have in SCD are the pillars and the foundation for our going to Oman today. This is where we are very proud as we look forward to developing the relationship further.”
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