New space science course at UAEU
al ain — A new degree on ‘Space Science Track’ will be introduced at the United Arab Emirates University’s (UAEU) in September.
The programme, which will be made available for undergraduates in the physics department in the beginning of the new academic year 20182019, was created in response to the UAE’s new vision to be a pioneer in space science.
“This will help the country for graduates from this programme to participate in different activities related to space science,” said Prof. Ahmed Murad, dean of the College of Science.
“We have Mars Scientific City 2117, which is a long plan and needs graduates from science and engineering. This is the first step in that plan.
“A total of 18 credit hours will be designed for the Space Track programme and we will have six new courses in this minor programme,” Dr Murad said.
“They will include an introduction to the concepts of space science and will hopefully end with a small project that students can handle.”
So far, three new faculty members were hired in space science, adding to a current
A total of 18 credit hours will be designed for the Space Track programme and we will have six new courses in this minor programme.” Prof. Ahmed Murad, dean, College of Science, UAEU
member at the university.
Dr Murad believes the programme will help in building a capacity of the nation in space science, channeling them to study related topics in the future.
Another plan the university has in the pipeline is to establish an interdisciplinary master programme between the College of Science, Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences and Information Technology in space science in the future.
“The proposal is 30 per cent ready and we will take feedback from the different entities concerned in the country before starting the process of approval, which could probably take one year from now,” he said.
“We already received approval for the Space Science Track programme and we will start accepting students by September. We were recommended to open up the minor programme next.”