Erasmus Mundus Scholars at SQU
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Mind Over Matter
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Department of Public
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Sultan Qaboos University
Issue 227
Panorama
Erasmus Mundus Scholars at SQU
By: Dr. Andy Kwarteng
Remote sensing and land degradation studies in Dhofar region:
The research project will utilize satellite data, aerial photographs,
and field-measured spectral data, for vegetation change detection study in Dhofar region with a unique monsoon climate in the
summer. By using times series of remote sensing data collected
just before and after the khareef season, it should be possible to
investigate if there are any changes in the vegetation cover between years. Any such changes could then be related to changes
in the climate or to land degradation from agriculture, e.g. animal
farming and overgrazing. The studies will not only include geographical but also biological and social aspects. Therefore it will
also include the collection of both quantitative and qualitative
field data where the qualitative data may consist of interviews
with experts and farmers in the Dhofar region. Conclusions based
on quantitative data will then be corroborated by qualitative data
and vice versa in order to generate reliable research results.
From left to right—Dr. Babu Madhavan, Roger Groth,
Dr. Andy Kwarteng and Dr. Per Schubert.
The Remote Sensing and GIS Center at SQU recently hosted two Erasmus Mundus scholars from Lund University, Sweden. Dr. Per Schubert
(Remote Sensing Specialist) and Roger Groth (Programmer and Database Expert) were attached to the RSGIS Center from October 23 to November 15, 2011. Erasmus Mundus Partnership brings higher education
institutes from the European Union to participants from a particular
region.
SQU recently became a member of the Erasmus Mundus Mobility
Program which is funded by the European Union and exchanges staff
and postgraduate students between Arab universities and a consortia
of higher education institutes from the European Union. The partners
in Europe consist of Lund University, Sweden; University of Deutso,
Spain; University of Dublin, Ireland; and University of Twenty, Holland.
The program at SQU is administered by the Office of External Cooperation. SQU has sent some staff, master’s and doctoral students to some
of the participating universities in Europe and have also hosted scholars
from Europe.
Per and Roger gained new and interesting knowledge about different
research projects, courses, and teaching at the Remote Sensing and GIS
Center. They, in turn briefed RSGIS staff about research and teaching
at Lund University, e.g. the Lund University Master’s Program in Geographical Information Systems (LUMA-GIS) given by the GIS Center at
the Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences. They enjoyed their
short stay in Oman and sharing their experiences with some staff and
students at SQU about the differences between the two universities and
environments. The intervening Eid holidays gave Per and Roger the
opportunity to better understand and enjoy the culture and people of
Oman when they visited Nizwa, Salalah and Sur.
RSGIS Center and the Erasmus Mundus scholars identified two potential research topics for further collaboration.
Distance learning and new teaching methods: RSGIS Center
and Lund University will investigate the possibility of creating
distance courses in remote sensing and GIS. Lund University has
used distance courses for more than 7 years.
About Erasmus Mundus
Erasmus Mundus is a cooperation and mobility programme in
the field of higher education that aims to enhance the quality of
European higher education and to promote dialogue and understanding between people and cultures through cooperation with
Third-Countries. In addition, it contributes to the development
of human resources and the international cooperation capacity
of Higher education institutions in Third Countries by increasing
mobility between the European Union and these countries.
The Erasmus Mundus programme provides support to: higher
education institutions that wish to implement joint programmes
at postgraduate level or to set-up inter-institutional cooperation
partnerships between universities from Europe and targeted
Third-Countries; individual students, researchers and university
staff who wish to spend a study /research/ teaching period in the
context of one of the above mentioned joint programmes or cooperation partnerships; any organization active in the field of higher
education that wishes to develop projects aimed at enhancing the
attractiveness, profile, visibility and image of European higher
education worldwide.
Erasmus Mundus is a cooperation and mobility programme in
the field of higher education for: the enhancement of quality in
European higher education; the promotion of the European Union as a centre of excellence in learning around the world; the
promotion of intercultural understanding through cooperation
with the Third Countries as well as for the development of Third
World Countries in the field of higher education.
The European Commission is responsible for the running of the
Erasmus Mundus Programme 2009-2013. It manages the budget
and sets priorities, targets and criteria for the Programme. The
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA)
is responsible for the implementation of the Erasmus Mundus
Programme.
10 December 2011 P7