Workshop for Chairmen and Graduate Coordinators

Salam A. Zummo

Dean of Graduate Studies

March 2011

Outline:

Appreciation massage

Statistics

MoHE scholarship students

Graduate Seminar Day – A Reminder

New system for admission tracking (quick demo)

Evaluation of admission applications

Progress of PhD students

Degree plans, course planning and other issues

Q&A

New Admits for Semester 102

Active Students

FT/PT MASTER STUDENTS – BY MAJOR

FT/PT PhD STUDENTS – BY MAJOR

Data Legend/

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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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

MoHE Scholarship Students - Update

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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, EE:  5, CHE: 2, ME:  3, CE: 2 MATH:  5,

ES: 2 CHEM: 1 SE: 1, ICS:  5, Missing departments include:

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:

Present their research work Interact with faculty and colleagues in a scientific gathering The only activity for graduate students – need to support and grow

Graduate Seminar Day – A Reminder

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New system for admission

tracking (quick demo)

http://acad.kfupm.edu.sa/adminlogin.a

spx

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Evaluation of admission

applications

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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

Sending and Receiving Files

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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, 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

Why do we send files in batches?

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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:

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:

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)

Evaluation Method

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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,

Please do not wait to evaluate files until the last batch All files are needed by mid of May to finalize decisions

Number of approved applicants

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Replaced Non-Degree admission since 071 Students satisfying the following conditions:

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

Pre-Graduate Admission

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Progress of PhD Students

PhD Progress Monitoring FT PhD - Typical degree progress:

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: MS students with 3-6 credits remaining need to register the thesis

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Degree plans, course planning and other issues

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:

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: 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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Degree Plans

Too many petitions to waive pre-requisites of some courses 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 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 Registration Week

Main goals of these courses: Allow students to dive in new research/course without the need of a well-

structured 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: 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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Issues on Research-based Courses

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THANK YOUTHANK YOU

Q & AQ & A