Deanship of Postgraduate Studies current scholarships, which pay monthly stipends of RO 250 to masters and RO 350 to doctoral students, are too small in value to attract top students in the face of strong international competition for talent. There is consequently a need for flexibility so that supervisors can top-up SQU scholarships from their research funds. The following guidelines for top-ups have been approved by Academic Council and are based on the values of scholarships provided by the Research Council:

·         For students receiving SQU scholarships, the total financial support from the scholarship monthly stipend plus top-up should not exceed:

-       R.O 800 p.m. for masters students (i.e. maximum top-up of R.O 550)

-       R.O 1000 p.m. for doctoral students (i.e. maximum top-up of R.O 650)

·         Acceptable SQU-administered sources of top-up funds are:

-       His Majesty’s Trust Fund, The Research Council open Grants Program, External Grants and Contact Research.

·         A student on scholarship should not have more than 2 top-up sources simultaneously and total weekly hours worked outside thesis research should not exceed 15 (paid teaching and/or research assistance).

·         Control/Monitoring of top-ups: 

-       The current Research Assistant form should be modified to indicate whether the student has a scholarship; this should be verified by the supervisor or HoD.

-       The Deanship of Postgraduate Studies should give The Deanship of Research a list of scholarship recipients at the start of each academic year.

-       The Deanship of Research should check that the above limits are not exceeded.