Dhofar University

[EduCativ]

Dhofar University (DU) is a not-for-profit private institution of higher education in Salalah, Sultanate of Oman, established by Ministerial Decree No. 5/2004, issued in January 2004 (SM01). DU formally commenced its operations in September 2004 on the National College of Science and Technology premises, which was then officially incorporated into DU.
DU is a young university, where campus life is brimming with social and cultural events that reflect Oman's rich heritage and that of Dhofar (art exhibits, performances, poetry readings, environmental awareness presentations, etc.).
DU moved to its new campus in 2010. The new campus is well-planned and constructed while keeping in mind the future needs of the University. There is plenty of open space for further expansion. All the buildings on the campus are constructed according to the Health and Safety aspects of Omani Health and Safety Laws. The new campus has an administration building, two big blocks of standard classrooms, a central library building, a student activity center, a mosque, a female student hostel, and senior administrative staff. Also, there are three separate buildings for the three Colleges and the Foundation Program (FP). The new campus can accommodate up to 10,000 students comfortably. Student enrollment has grown steadily, from 1500 students in 2004 to around 6000 students in 2016. The majority of the students are Omanis, with a small number of expatriates.
DU has a well-defined structure and hierarchy of management. It has a Board of Trustees (BOT) that represents its highest policy-making body.
The VC is assisted by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC). Next in the hierarchy are the three College Deans. All the colleges have Assistant Deans and then Department Chairs. A Director manages the FP Unit. Besides, several administrative Departments/Centers at DU provide different services for effective operations and the University's smooth functioning. All these Departments and Centers are headed by a Director who reports to the VC or DVC, as shown in the DU Organisational Chart. The University Council (UC) is the highest decision-making body within the University, which takes all the necessary decisions required to assist the VC in performing his duties in the best interests of the University. The VC heads the UC.
There is a separate Foundation Program (FP) headed by a Director, comprised of the English Language Unit, the Mathematics Unit, and the Information Technology Unit. The Director reports to the DVC. Conveners are appointed for each unit, and they report to the Director of the FP. The FP is designed for students who are not sufficiently prepared to join academic programs at the University. These students are required to spend one or more terms in the FP, depending on their English level. The students' placement in various levels of Foundation is based on the results of a Placement Test.
DU also has a Community Service and Continuing Education Center, which offers various courses and training programs for executives and employees of government agencies, commercial firms, and local community needs. Academic programs follow the American higher education model and use English as the medium of instruction, except for the Master in Management and the Master in Educational Administration programs are in Arabic. The academic year is divided into two semesters of sixteen weeks of instruction each and a summer session of six weeks of instruction.
A student will be awarded either a diploma or a bachelor's degree, but not both, following the choice he/she had made when he/she joined DU. Suppose a bound bachelor student decided, for a legitimate reason, to forgo his/her desire to finish the bachelor program in the middle of a semester and decided to receive a diploma instead. In that case, he/she will be required to drop all courses in progress. A diploma will then be awarded contingent on completing the diploma program's requirements, subject to the College Administrative Committee's approval and the DVC for Academic Affairs.
Registration is the operation in which a student selects his/her courses, have them approved by his/her academic advisor, pays the required fees, and then registers Online using the Student Portal (DU SIS) on the University website or with the help of the academic advisors at the colleges. The department announces the dates and procedures for registration in the University Calendar and posts them on bulletin boards inside the University's website.
The period of registration ends one day before classes start. Late registration is permitted for a certain period, which is usually two days from the beginning of classes with the approval of the concerned Dean of the college. One of the consequences of not registering on time is that a student may not find enough courses to register for. Students who want to make changes in their schedules should do so during the drop and add period during the fall and the spring semesters and the first two days of the summer session either through the Internet or through the Office of Admission registration through the Internet fails. The University has the right to cancel all the courses in which not enough students registered. The minimum number of students required for a course not to be canceled varies from one college to another.

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