Workshop for Chairmen and
Graduate Coordinators
Salam A. Zummo
Dean of Graduate Studies
March 2011
Outline:
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Appreciation massage
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Statistics
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MoHE scholarship students
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Graduate Seminar Day – A Reminder
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New system for admission tracking (quick demo)
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Evaluation of admission applications
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Progress of PhD students
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Degree plans, course planning and other issues
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Q&A
New Admits for Semester 102
Active Students
FT/PT MASTER STUDENTS – BY MAJOR
FT/PT PhD STUDENTS – BY MAJOR
Data Legend
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Active Research Assistants in 102
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Active Lecturer-B’s in 102
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Full-time Master and PhD students
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MoHE Scholarship Students - Update
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A new system to bring international students on student Visa
Need approval of MoHE as in Yemeni students
Stipend is 900SR as full-time Saudi students
 only MS students
No duties are required in Dept’s
Same admission criteria as RAs
We have sent 116 names to MoHE for approval for coming
Fall (for Dept’s exceeding RA quota)
Let us hope the process be simple and we get them before Fall
2011
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Graduate Seminar Day – A Reminder
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Deadline is today - Received only 27 contributions from students
Very small number given the enrolled FT students (500 students)
Contributions received from:
PETE: 1,
MATH: 5,
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CHE: 2,
CHEM: 1
ME: 3, CE: 2
SE: 1, ICS: 5,
Missing departments include:
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EE: 5,
ES: 2
AE, PHYS, COE, Colleges of Business and Environmental Design
Relatively under-represented departments:
 PETE, CHE, ME, CE, SE, CHEM and ES
Deadline was extended until Sat. March 26
Regardless of winning awards, it is an opportunity for Graduate Students:
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Present their research work
Interact with faculty and colleagues in a scientific gathering
The only activity for graduate students – need to support and grow
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New system for admission tracking
(quick demo)
http://acad.kfupm.edu.sa/adminlogin.aspx
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Evaluation of admission applications
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Sending and Receiving Files
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Sending and receiving files in batches via Workflow
Files of one batch get sent over couple of days (error alerts to
be cleared before releasing files)
First batch will be sent early next week
Deadline is April 16 (for submission of documents)
Last batch to be sent by end of April hopefully
Dept’s’ will have 2-week duration to return files
Final decisions must be out by end of May
Hence, Dept’s need to send all files by mid of May
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Why do we send files in batches?
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To finalize decisions on clear cases to be rejected ASAP
To force admission office to work faster and under pressure to
push files in batches with deadlines
To allow more time to Dept’s to evaluate files
Please do not wait to evaluate files until the last batch
You can make a recommendation for a file, and save it until you
have all files to be approved. Then,
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Select the top X files to be definitely approved – mark as 1st priority
The next Y files that are very good – mark as 2nd priority
The next Z files as backup – mark as 3rd priority
Reject the rest
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Evaluation Method
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Recommendation is made by the graduate committee with the
approval/delegation of the Chairman
Files are to be discussed in a committee meeting rather than circulating
among the members – A committee recommendation
I hope the following can be taken into account:
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Performance of previous students from similar schools
Distribution over specialization areas (if too many applicants)
Return clear cases (to be rejected) within the 2-week deadline
Border and to-be-approved cases can wait until all files are returned
with the last batch but before mid May
In your recommendations, please provide more comments on:
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Applicant’s previous school and GPA
Our experience with such applicants and information about such schools
The applicant’s priority level (High, Medium or Low)
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Number of approved applicants
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Currently, Dept’s recommend approving ALL applicants
satisfying the admission criteria
For some Dept’s, these are too many!!!
Last semester, priority in admission was given to those
recommended with 1st priority, then 2nd, then 3rd
A special care to assign priorities to applicants
This will help us make final decision as per available slots and
visas
Again,
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Please do not wait to evaluate files until the last batch
All files are needed by mid of May to finalize decisions
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Pre-Graduate Admission
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Replaced Non-Degree admission since 071
Students satisfying the following conditions:
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GPA < 2.5 (at least 2-year experience) or equivalent
At least 2-year experience after graduation
A highly motivated student as appears from recomm letters and SOP
One year to finish the Pre-Grad Program
Pass 3 grad courses, 2 of which are core with > B in each
Monitored periodically to dismiss low-performing students
Please put your recommendation to approve such applicants as
Admit – “as Pre-Graduate” in the comments
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Progress of PhD Students
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PhD Progress Monitoring
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FT PhD - Typical degree progress:
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Finish all coursework within 3-4 semesters at maximum,
Declare a thesis advisor in the 3rd semester at maximum,
Pass the comprehensive examination within 4 semesters at maximum,
Submit the thesis proposal within 6 semesters at maximum and
Complete the PhD program within 4 years at maximum
Have a comprehensive exam every semester if any student deadline
is approaching
Offer more courses for PhD students to allow smooth progress
We will send you the list of PhD students that need update by 102
FT MS and PhD students need to complete 9 credit hours every
semester:
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MS students with 3-6 credits remaining need to register the thesis
Degree plans, course planning and other
issues
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Degree Plans
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Many students do not have degree plans approved in their files
Each student needs to get his degree plan approved during the first
semester, and at maximum by the second semester of admission.
This will help both:
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Departments plan for offering graduate courses as per the students’
plans
Students plan their degrees and courses to be taken better
Prevent student from taking courses that may not be approved for
graduation, which could waste his time
To avoid delaying students in progressing in their degrees,
departments need to offer:
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Core courses on regular basis with a minimum frequency of once a year
Enough electives needed to serve as many students requests as possible
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Issues on Registration Week
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Too many petitions to waive pre-requisites of some courses
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This puts a lot of pressure on our office and Registrar’s office to process
these petitions
Most of these petitions could have been processed/approved/avoided if
early registration was better utilized
Conflicts in the final examination slots of graduate courses
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Stopps many students from registering for courses due to final exam
conflicts
Given the small number of offered graduate courses, we highly count on
your care to check ask the Registrar Office to avoid such exam conflicts
during the formation of the schedule
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Issues on Research-based Courses
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Main goals of these courses:
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Allow students to dive in new research/course without the need of a wellstructured course
Provide opportunity to start research during coursework
It is NOT a trick to reduce credit hours in MS or PhD programs
Currently, policy is simple and entrusts the instructor and graduate
committee in the Dept.
Quality assurance policies needed by Graduate Council – Little
response until now
Some observations:
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Allowing students with border GPAs to register such courses
Allowing fresh students in MS or PhD degrees
Having one instructor giving several of these courses in one semester
No presentation is made as course description states clearly
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THANK YOU
Q&A
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