Degrees Offered

The Computer Science Department offers 3 following programs:

1. Diploma in Computer Science Program : 60 Credits – 2 Years

2. Bachelor in Computer Science : 121-122 Credits – 4 Years

3. Master of Science in Information Technology (MS-IT) : 36 Credits – 2 Years

4. Diploma in Computer Science for Students with Hearing Impairment: 60 Credits – 2 Years

5. Master of Science in Cybersecurity: 33 Credits – 2 Years

Computer Science program covers the following areas:

• Programming
• Databases
• Networking
• Software Engineer
• System Design
• Web Design
• Operating Systems
• Computer Graphics
• Artificial Intelligence

Diploma Program

The diploma degree is 60 credit hours program distributed over two years of studies. It is competency oriented as required by the IT industry standards with emphasis on the following concepts:

• Computer Platforms
• System Analysis
• Programming
• Database Design
• Personal Skills Development.

The program strikes a balance between theory and practice. Although it emphasizes practical work, it also covers the theoretical foundations in order to establish adequate links with education at a higher level and keep the students abreast of current knowledge in the field. Students will have hands-on experience with computer hardware, software, and methodologies of software evaluation and development of computer applications with strong emphasis on developing programming skills, including programming for the World Wide Web. In addition, the program follows a modern liberal arts approach by exposing the students to a sound knowledge of general sciences, the arts, study of the Omani culture, mastery of general computing skills, and efficient usage of Arabic and English languages.

Although the Diploma holders may exit the university education with this degree, they will also have opportunities to continue their education to complete a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science if they satisfy the requirements for admission to that program, then all the credits that are successfully completed in the Diploma program are transferable to the B.S. program.

Diploma Program for Students with Hearing Impairment

Coming soon…

Bachelor of Science Program

The BS Computer Science is a four-year, 120 Credit Hours program designed to enable its holders to contribute to improving and modernizing the lifestyle and work culture through the computerization and automation of a wide range of processes in the industries and the society. The program content is very much in line with the current standards and guidelines established by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM).

To graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, students must satisfactorily complete the program of study with an overall minimum average of 65 percent, and a cumulative average of 70 percent in all computer science courses.

Master of Science in Information Technology (MS-IT)

Program Objectives

The primary aim of the program is to allow IT professionals an opportunity for professional upgrading or an extension of their qualifications and experience in order to develop to their full intellectual potential. It is a professional degree program, designed to provide candidates with appropriate practical understanding, life-long learning skills and knowledge for IT use, research, development and management and turn into competent and morally responsible professional individual to better serve the community. Having this knowledge, skills and practical understanding, graduates will be able to assume careers in research, development, operations and management of medium and large organizations, in all sectors, where IT is vital.

Learning Outcomes

The MS-IT program is designed to prepare professionals and recent graduates for work in the IT sector at the highest levels in today’s thoroughly globalised and networked environment. It will provide the individual with the knowledge, understanding and skills to deal effectively with advanced applied and research issues in IT. Graduates of the course will possess a solid foundation that will allow them to maintain their skills as their specialized fields evolve.

Upon completion of the MS-IT program, graduates will be able to:

• Apply cutting edge technologies to real life business problems.
• Demonstrate teamwork abilities and outcome oriented deliverables.
• Explain and apply the core aspects of IT principles and tools, and manage their implementation in a business context.
• Understand and facilitate the strategic and operational aspects of business and technology applications.
• Manage complex IT projects with consideration of the human factors, business requirements, environmental aspects, risk management processes, and operational and policy implications.
• Understand the strengths and limitations of current technologies and apply them intelligently to meet the needs of each application.
• Apply their practical skills in IT projects developed for real world applications.
• Utilize high level interpersonal skills to negotiate and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders verbally and in writing.
• Possess advanced knowledge of the state of the art in research in specialist areas related to Information Technology.
• Have an understanding of research methodologies at a level that enables students to conduct research in the areas of information technology.

Graduate Attributes

• Practice life-long, self-dependant learning skills.
• Demonstrate the ability to act independently and creatively in analyzing problems.
• Demonstrate their knowledge and skills in the investigation of problems and development of solutions.
• Be able to make sound judgments on complex issues and communicate their conclusions effectively to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
• Own the responsibility for their own learning and future professional development.
• Be able to collaboratively work in identifying issues and resolving problems.
• Develop the culture of doing appropriate literature review before the start of any research project.

Master of Science in Cybersecurity

This is a two-year program consisting of 33 Credit Hours designed and offered by DU to prepare students with undergraduate degrees in technology disciplines for responsible leadership roles in the technology-based and information-based workplaces. The Master of Science in Cybersecurity degree equips technology professionals to assess the security needs of information and network systems and then to manage the implementation and maintenance of the recommended security solutions.

Program Objectives

The objectives of the Master of Science in Cybersecurity are to:

• Develop capability in the students to protect institutional computer systems and networks.
• Prepare students to apply, manage and observe cybersecurity technology to ensure the fortification of institutional Information Technology infrastructure.
• Inculcate skills in the students to be able to critically recognize, analyze and assess the critical and remedial security breaches and attacks.
• Integrate state of the art technology to solve critical issues in the field of Cybersecurity.
• Recognize, articulate, and analyse issues in Cybersecurity through latest state of the art tools and techniques applicable in the field.
• Rationally manage ethical issues emerging in practiced Cybersecurity undertakings.
• Communicate effectively cybersecurity related issues by reporting orally and in written.

Intended learning outcomes

• Demonstrate knowledge of best practices in cybersecurity management.
• Understand ethical challenges that confront a cybersecurity professional.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental and advanced concepts of operating systems, networks, and cloud computing.
• Demonstrate knowledge of cybersecurity regulatory environment and ethics.
• Mitigate and overcome the challenges evolved in Cyber attacks.
• Use techniques to guard the institutions security architecture and the data against attack and unlawful access.
• Analyse and evaluate networks, cybersecurity problems and apply theoretical principles of computer science and relevant disciplines to find appropriate solutions.
• Work independently and collaborate effectively in team.
• Communicate effectively, present and write professional reports.

Admission Criteria
Admission to the Master of science in cybersecurity requires the candidate to have:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related domain recognized by MoHERI, Sultanate of Oman
• A minimum CGPA with Good score or equivalent in Bachelors in Computer Science or a related domain.
• A minimum CGPA of 65% or equivalent could be considered as eligible with a minimum of 2 years of work experience
• Have an IELTS score of minimum 6.00 or equivalent.

Students with bachelor degree from other majors must study and pass minimum of 4 bridging courses (12 credits) and maximum of 8 (24 credits) bridging courses in Computer Science recommended by the interview panel with a grade not less than C.

For Diploma in Computer Science

Graduation Requirements
To receive a Diploma in Computer Science, students must satisfactorily complete 60 credit hours that are described in the Program of Study with an overall minimum average of 65 percent.

University Requirements
Student working for a diploma in computer science must complete a total of 24 credit hours of general educational (university) requirements distributed as follows:

• 3 credits of Arabic: ARAB 101 (Academic Writing in Arabic)
• 3 credits of Social and Cultural Studies: SOCS 102(Omani Society)
• 9 credits of English communication skills: ENGL 101 (Basic Academic nglish I), ENGL 102C (English for Computer Science I), ENGL 203C (English or Computer Science II)
• 3 credits of computer literacy: CMPS 100B (Introduction to Technical omputing for the Sciences)
• 3 credits of Entrepreneurship: ENTR 200 (Entrepreneurship: Innovation nd Creativity)
• 3 credits of mathematics: MATH 199 (Calculus I)

College Requirements
A one, 3-Credit Hours course is chosen from any other major.

Program Requirements
The Program Requirements consists of eleven course encompassing 33 credit ours distributed (View study plan for further details).

For Bachelor of Science Program

Graduation Requirements
To graduate with a BS in Computer Science, students must satisfactorily complete 120 credit hours of course work from the courses that are  described in the Program of Study with an overall minimum average of 65 percent, and a cumulative average of 70 percent in the major courses.

University Requirements
The BS general education requirements include the following 10 course comprising 30 credit hours:(View POS for further details).

College Requirements
This set consists of four courses comprising a minimum of 12 credit hours distributed as follows:

• One course in physical/natural sciences electives
• One course in social/humanities electives
• Two courses in any other majors

Program Requirements
This set consists of 25 courses comprising 78 credit hours

For Master of Science in Information Technology

Admission Criteria
Applicants must have completed a Bachelors degree in Computer Science, IT or a related discipline from a university recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education in Oman. Students with other majors are also eligible for admission subject to successful completion of a number of pre-requisite courses that will be determined by the department.

The student must have achieved a score not less than 75%, which is equivalent to a GPA of 2.4 out of 4.0 or a cumulative grade letter of C+. Graduates from other majors will be expected to have successfully completed introductory courses in the areas shown below, with a grade not less than B in each course. If not, they will have to complete at least 12 credit hours (4 courses), before they can be officially enrolled in the program. The exact entry requirements can only be determined after the qualifications of the student are observed and analyzed.

Graduates from other majors will be expected to have successfully completed introductory courses in the following areas:

1. Data Structures
2. Databases
3. Networks and Security
4. Programming
5. Software Engineering

Program Curriculum Plan

The MS-IT program is a 2-year thesis-based program.

Graduation Requirements

The University does not follow the notion of yearly education. The students are awarded the degrees on the basis of completion 36 credit hours with an overall GPA not less than 65%. However, the University has put forward a regulation that a student must complete minimum of 18 credit hours to be eligible for Master’s thesis registration process.

The duration of the program is considered to be 24 months for full-time students. However, the students can extend the period of study up to a maximum of 4 years in order to acquire 36 credits. Additionally a residency requirement of no less than 2 years and a maximum residency of 4 are also embedded in the regulations.

The courses are designed in accordance with the American system of higher education. A graduate course is worth 3 credit hours. Such a class would generally meet for 3 contact hours per week over a 15-week semester, totaling roughly 45 hours of “contact” with the instructor(s) per course. Such classes may meet 3×1 hour weekly (for example Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 0900-1000), or 2×1.5 hours weekly (for example Mondays and Wednesdays from 0800-0930).

The contact hours of a typical 3 credit course would comprise of lectures and/or class discussion and/or lab works/applications or other options. In addition to lectures, one or several textbooks would be required reading, and there would often be recommended supplementary reading as well. The students are expected to do 3-2 hours of self study referring the reference materials available in the library or online resources to meet the learning outcomes of the course. Students shall also be expected to complete a number of homework assignments including problem solving, programming, course projects, course papers and theoretical issues. They are required to perform these tasks at their own time. The university is equipped with latest computers and software tools but many students may work from home. As a general rule, students are expected to work at least 3 hours of homework against each contact hour in the class, however, detailed work-load guidelines shall be provided in each course outline.

There are three exit routes from this program which are:

• successful completion of the program with CGPA not less than 65% and award of Master degree or
• successful completion of 15 credit hours of core courses and 3 credit hours of elective course (thereby acquiring 18 credits in total) with CGPA not less than 60% and award of a Postgraduate Diploma or
• unsuccessful completion of the program and award of transcript showing a set of completed/attempted courses.

The breakdown of 36 credits is given below:

• 15 credits of core courses
• 15 credits of technical electives, of which at least 6 credits must be chosen from level 600 or higher courses
• 6 credits of Master’s Thesis

Important

• A student, who successfully completes 18 credits, shall be considered for the Master’s Thesis option. The final decision shall be made by the department based on the student’s grades and his/her ability to do research.
• A student shall be given up to three semesters to finish his/her thesis work. In case the student does not finish the thesis work on time, he/she must reregister for the thesis course CMPS 690.
• The thesis should be presented following the report guidelines provided by the department and need to be defended in front of a panel of experts.

For Master of Science in Cybersecurity

There are two exit routes:

1. M.Sc in Cybersecurity (Industrial project)

8 core course (3 credits each) + 2 Major Electives (3 credit each) + Industrial Project (3 credits) = Total 33 credits

2. M.Sc in Cybersecurity (Comprehensive exam)

9 core course (3 credits each) + 2 Major Electives (3 credit each) + Comprehensive Exam (0 credit) = Total 33 credits

Click on the following link to view faculty & staff of Department of Computer Science.

Faculty & Staff of Department of Computer Science

Offices

After the successful completion of the new building which offered much more space, the department increased in size and acquired more teaching and learning resources. The new building increased the Computer Science department’s space to about three times. All the faculty members are provided with their own office rooms which are well equipped with all the modern facilities. The Department secretary is also provided with an office to increase productivity.

Classrooms and Laboratories

Classrooms: Common classroom building

The common classroom building contains numerous classrooms equipped with overhead projectors and a personal computer to serve the education needs of the DU community. The College of Arts and Applied Sciences and specifically the Department of Computer Science may use this facility as and when feasible.

These seven computer labs are specifically designated for the use of the Department of Computer Science in the College of Arts and Applied Sciences building. A dedicated room for students with disabilities has also been established in September 2021.

Computer Labs

Computer labs are equipped with 130 computers.

The College of Arts and Applied Science (CAAS) has initiated a renovation process of computer labs by upgrading the memory and replacing the existing hard disks with SSD which shall significantly enhance their performance. Furthermore, CAAS has ordered 16 new iMac computers for the immersive technology lab.

Computer Labs: CAAS 101C, CAAS 102C, CAAS 103C, CAAS 104C, CAAS 105C, CAAS 003B, CAAS 006B

These seven computer labs are specifically designated for the use of the Department of Computer Science in the College of Arts and Applied Sciences building. A dedicated room for students with disabilities has also been established in September 2021.

Specialized computer labs: CAAS 107C, CAAS 131C, CAAS 106C

Three specialized computer labs are provided to cover the needs of Dhofar University students, staff as well as the local community to conduct the necessary training and extracurricular activities and avail of state-of-the-art hardware and software resources. These labs are:

• Networks and Cybersecurity Lab
• Immersive Technology Lab
• Robotics Lab

Software(s): Computer labs

Win7 professional operating system, office 2007/2010. The college has started upgrading the operating system as well as the software packages to Windows 10.

Others:

• Java JDK and NetBeans
• Visual Studio C++
• MySQL
• Ubuntu Linux
• Microsoft Visual FoxPro
• Microsoft Visual Basic
• Lazarus (FreePascal)
• Adobe Dreamweaver
• Adobe Flash Professional
• Microsoft Office
• Xampp

Hardware(s): Computer labs

Intel Core i5 CPU with 3.3GHZ, 4GB RAM, 500GB/1TB HD, and DVD/R

Graduates of the Computer Science program will have many career choices spanning a wide range of fields. Most notable are: computing and communication industries, investment banks and financial institutions, global defense and aerospace, management and computing consultancies, research laboratories, media industries, data science, artificial intelligence (AI), and cybersecurity sectors. Graduates will have employment opportunities in almost any enterprise as system analysts and designers, trainers, instructors, system engineers, programmers, database developers and managers, network managers, and computer science consultants. The continuing expansion of the use of computers in commercial and financial operations means employment opportunities in diverse industries.

Emerging Fields:

Data Science:

• Data Analysts, Data Engineers, and Data Scientists
• Business Intelligence Analysts
• Machine Learning Engineers working on predictive analytics
• Big Data Specialists managing large-scale data infrastructures (e.g., Hadoop, Spark)
• Data Visualization Experts who turn complex data into actionable insights

Artificial Intelligence (AI):

• AI Engineers developing intelligent systems for automation and decision-making
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) Specialists working with chatbots, virtual assistants, and language models
• Computer Vision Engineers focusing on image recognition, facial recognition, and AR/VR applications
• Robotics Engineers designing AI-powered robots and autonomous systems
• AI Ethics Consultants focusing on responsible and fair AI development

Cybersecurity:

• Security Analysts monitoring and detecting cyber threats
• Ethical Hackers (Penetration Testers) identifying system vulnerabilities
• Cybersecurity Architects designing secure networks and infrastructures
• Information Security Officers (CISO) managing enterprise security strategies
• Incident Response Specialists leading investigations and recovery from cyberattacks
• Threat Intelligence Analysts tracking emerging security threats

Graduates can also explore innovative fields such as the gaming industry, virtual reality, multimedia applications, computer animations, internet support and development, as well as many other related industries. With the rise of AI-driven solutions and cybersecurity challenges, computer science professionals are at the forefront of shaping future technologies and ensuring digital safety across sectors.