Thursday 12 / December / 2024
Muscat: Masters in Science (MSc) programme in Chemistry offered by the Department of Chemistry at the College of Science at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) has secured academic accreditation from the United Kingdom-based Royal Society of Chemistry.
Accreditation is an effective way that can be used to measure confidence in the quality of graduates from a given programme. It allows universities and students to be assured about the quality of their education.
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) was established in 1841 and is a leading society and a professional body for chemical scientists. The RSC has had a respected system of degree accreditation for many years.
Commenting on the RSC accreditation for the MSc programme in Chemistry, Dr. Haider Ahmed Al Lawati, head of the Department of Chemistry at SQU, said the department, in its efforts to assess the quality of its programmes had invited the RSC to evaluate its MSc programme last year.
“Following an application submitted by the Department of Chemistry and supported by SQU’s administration, the RSC appointed and sent a team of reviewers, who evaluated the department’s application and later visited the department in November. The team evaluated the curriculum, the examinations and the facilities at the department. Also, the team met with the staff and the students of the department, as well as with senior administrators at SQU. The RSC then conferred accreditation to the MSc in December 2015 after it found that the degree is of a very high standard,” he said.
The Department of Chemistry was established in 1986, since then it has grown considerably and is known as one the significant pillars at the College of Science at SQU. Currently, the department offers a five-year Bachelors in Science degree in Chemistry and Applied Chemistry and a two-year MSc programme, along with the recently initiated doctoral (PhD) degree programme.
