"We are in the process of completing the paper works for the approval of a dual PhD programme in chemical engineering with HBKU," Dr César O Malavé told Gulf Times.
"We are committed to launch more PhD programmes to cater to the industrial and academic needs of Qatar," explained the academic who took charge as the dean of Tamuq in July this year.
“Dual programmes are becoming very popular and all you have to do is to satisfy the requirements of both the institutes. In this case when the programme is materialised, the students have to apply to Tamuq as well as to HBKU and have to be accepted by both the institutes,” he maintained.
There will be a joint committee of faculty from both the organisations to finalise the details of the programme. Courses will be included from both the institutions.
One of the toughest parts is to satisfy the requirements of both the institutions. Tamuq has to get all the approvals from the US to offer the programme.
“If all the details can be worked out during a joint advisory meeting of the institutes in late October, we might sign an MoU but the approval process will run up to January. Once everything is completed, we expect that we will be able to start the programme by 2017.”
Dean Malave pointed out that the programme will have an intake of 20 students per year. “You need to produce PhD students that the stakeholders in the country can absorb. Many of the PhD students go to the industry while others follow the academic stream with some opting for research and become faculty members,” he explained.
Malave, who has 30 years of administrative experience as associate dean as well as assistant dean, highlighted that collaboration with other institutes is an important part of his plan for the university.
“This collaboration with HBKU is important and we are looking forward to stronger collaboration with other organisations too. Research is one area we are focused on and we are committed to conduct research in areas of national priority. We are also looking at other institutes in Qatar to attract more high calibre students to join our programmes,” he added.
Tamuq has 545 students at present following four undergraduate programme as well as a master’s programme in chemical engineering. The university has graduated over 735 students since its establishment in 2003.
Malavé was previously professor and head of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University and holder of the Sugar and Mike Barnes Department Head Chair.
As dean of Tamuq, Malavé is responsible for administrating and managing the academic, research and outreach programmes of the branch campus, as well as for providing vision and direction for the campus.