Page 4 - Annual Research Report 2018-19

Foreword

This annual report summarizes the research activities and achievements of DU during the Academic
Year 2018-2019.This academic year was a year of significant developments and achievements for
Dhofar University. During the Academic year 2018-19, DU had the honor of being the first University
in Oman to be accredited by OAAA in December 2018. During the same academic year, DU was

Internationally accredited by UK based accreditation authority “ASIC” in April 2019. DU was also
awarded a special “Student Centered University Award” by ASIC. Thus, DU has a unique distinction
of being the first University in Oman to be accredited nationally by OAAA and internationally by
ASIC.

During the AY 2018-19, the faculty members and students were involved in several Research
activities. The Research Gate (RG) score of the University increased significantly to over 1151
helping DU retain its position as 2nd best in Research among all private Universities in Oman. The
Research achievements of our Students, Faculty members and the Research centre were
celebrated on University’s 6th Annual Research Day held on 5th December, 2018 under the

auspices of Vice Chancellor; Prof. Hassan Kashoob. The Research Council (TRC) started a new
funding program called as Block Fund. Two calls for proposals were initiated simultaneously namely
Call 2018 and Call 2019 that invited proposals from faculty members, students and staff for different
Research grants. The students, staff, faculty members and the Research center worked tirelessly
and submitted 18 proposals in response to Call 2018, while 42 research proposals were submitted

for Call 2019. DU also became member of EJAAD; a new platform from TRC that helps to link
academia to Industry. DU submitted 3 expressions of interest in response to different Industry
challenges where 1 proposal submitted to Oman oil & Gas is in final evaluation stages. Our faculty
from College of Engineering won National Research Award in ICT sector while Engineering students

won first place in Omantel’s 5G Use Cases University/College Competition in Collaboration with
Ericsson. Another significant achievement in research and scholarly activities was the submission
of two national level and one International patent applications. DU “Research Planning and
Management” criterion was awarded a rate of 3 by OAAA in the Final Institutional Standards
Reassessment Report in December 2018. ASIC has also given commendation on the carefully
structured system for research supervision and management at DU.

This continued success is all due to the support, hard work and commitment of our management,
faculty and students. I hope all these achievements will lead to other achievements in the next AY
2019-2020.

Regards,
Prof. Hassan Kashoob
Vice Chancellor
Dhofar University