New programme announced, SQU college renamed

In response to the Royal orders of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, Dr Ali bin Saud al Bimani, Vice Chancellor of the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), announced the establishment of a department for Political Sciences at the university’s college of commerce and economics and the renaming of the college as the “College of Economics and Political Sciences”. Al Bimani also announced the transfer of the “International Relations and Security Studies Programme” from the College of Arts and Social Sciences to the College of Economics and Political Sciences. The students of the Political Sciences Department will hopefully be received in September 2013, while the International Relations and Security Studies Programme is due to begin in September 2012, said al Bimani. As part of preparations for the political sciences programme, a work team has been formed to restructure the College of Commerce and Economics, establish a department for political sciences that will be headed by the SQU Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Community Service. Besides preparing academic curricula for the political sciences programme, the team looks into study hours for each programme in line with the SQU academic system, besides defining terms for admission at the programme and the need for buildings and other facilities. Dr al Bimani pointed out that another work team has been formed to work under the chairmanship of the SQU Assistant Vice Chancellor for Post Graduate Studies and Scientific Research to supervise the transfer of the International Relations and Security Studies programme from the College of Arts and Social Sciences to the College of Economics and Political Sciences. The study will start on this programme from September 2012. The SQU Vice Chancellor expressed his thanks and appreciation to His Majesty the Sultan for the continuous Royal care and generous support to this important scientific edifice.