Scholarships open up new avenues

Every year for the next five academic years, every qualified Omani, including both employees and fresh graduates they must be BA or MA degree holders can apply for 200 available scholarships in certain specific areas of specialisation.Starting this academic year, the scholarships will enable 150 Omani BA degree holders and 50 MA degree holders to pursue their higher studies at a top ranked university in Canada, Singapore, Germany, Japan, the UK, the USA, Australia or New Zealand.

Announcing this yesterday, Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) officials gave details of the 200 available scholarships in certain specific areas of specialisation and the 1,000 new scholarships for post-graduate studies abroad. In November 2010, the external scholarship fund for post-graduate studies was augmented by a Royal Grant of RO100 million.Zamzam Lamki, director general of the Higher Education Admission Centre, Hamad Al Balushi, DG of the Scholarship Department, Yahya Salam Al Mandhari, deputy DG of HEAC and Abdullah Al Harthi, director of the External Scholarship Department for postgraduate studies, explained details about admissions.

Scholarships for post-graduate studies abroad are awarded primarily on the basis of an applicant’s academic performance.They include admission requirements of specific programmes and universities and one of the requirements is that the applicant must have obtained his or her BA (for MA) or MA for Ph.D degree in a relevant area of specialisation no longer than six years ago. The Grade Point Average or equivalent has to be minimum three and the IELTS English Language Testing System overall band score cannot be lower than a six equivalent to TOEFL paper based 550.

The applicant for a scholarship for MA studies must not be older than 35 years and the applicant for a Ph.D programme abroad must not be older than 45 years. Once the applicant has been awarded a scholarship, he or she can only apply to a university which must be included in the top 25 national rankings.The programmes are in areas relevant to the needs of Oman’s job market, including Natural and Physical Sciences including specialisations such as Geophysics, Biochemistry and Marine Sciences; IT such as Computer Programming and Artificial Intelligence; Engineering such as Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering); Architecture such as Landscape Architecture, Building Construction Management; Agricultural and Environment studies such as Fisheries, Renewable energies; Health Sciences such as Psychiatry and Radiology; and Management and Commerce such as Human Resource Management and Econometrics.Hamad Al Balushi, DG of the General Scholarship Department, said: The Sultanate needs more Omani graduates who have attained certain knowledge, skills and competence.Candidates for PG external scholarships for 2011/2012 may apply to the Higher Education Admission Centre from October 15 to November 16.