The Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at the College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences was established in 1986 as the Department of Animal and Food Sciences. The department was renamed the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences. Currently, the department offers two programs; Animal Science and Veterinary Technology. The Veterinary Technology Program is the only one of its kind in the region. As part of its land grant mission, the department strives to meet the needs of all citizens by providing outstanding teaching, research and extension programs.

 The vision of the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University is to be a leader in teaching and research in those disciplines of veterinary and animal sciences pertaining to the health, performance and welfare of domestic animals in the Sultanate of Oman. The mission of the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences is to advance the animal and health science sector by using multidisciplinary approaches to teaching, research and community service. This will produce fully equipped, confident, independent graduates who have a clear understanding of animal science and health who are able to serve their country by disseminating and applying the latest knowledge to sustain the ultimate goal to provide food security to the peoples of Oman and optimize the health of its citizens.

Head of the Department

The Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences offers a Bachelor and Master Degree in Animal Science and in Veterinary Technology. Students from the 1999 cohort have been the first recipients of the revised degree plan that was initiated in 2001. The degree plan requires that students take an increased number of required courses. The courses offered have been restructured to provide additional emphasis on assuring that students obtain ample hands-on experience in their respective disciplines. This approach has paid of with students provided more opportunities to take of extracurricular activities, such as participating in graduate research projects and assisting fellow classmates on special projects. The Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences offer s series of graduate courses leading to a Master of Science Degree in Animal and Veterinary Sciences. In addition to common foundation courses in Chemistry, Biology and Physics, the students will choose one of the two-degree programs offered by the department. Animal Science students take courses in the fields of nutrition, physiology, production, genetics, animal husbandry, animal health, meat science, camel, poultry and horse management. Veterinary Technology students take core courses in the fields of veterinary anatomy, parasitology, microbiology, hematology, clinical biochemistry, pathology, food inspection, and a wide range of clinical disciplines. All courses within both programs have 2-3 hours of practical components. Animal Science and Veterinary Technology students are also required to participate in internship and externships respectively, to provide them with hands-on experiences. 

The Department Offers Three Programs as follow: 

• Bachelor of Science in Animal Science
• Bachelor of Science in Veterinary Technology
• Master of Science in Animal Science

Our mission is to conduct applied research which may ultimately bring benefit to the region. Because of the limitations of research funds and personnel, our economic and intellectual resources are funded together to extract the maximum scientific rewards. The primary research emphasis in Animal and Veterinary Sciences is to develop projects that will result in the development of new technology in the disciplines of physiology, nutrition, genetics, production, health, immunology, disease and management. Our meat science group has developed a strong program in the study of meat quality, and nutritive value of livestock products with an emphasis on the Proterozoic and genomic characteristics of animal meat which ultimately will result in a better product for human consumption. The research goal of our nutritional studies is directed at identifying and ascertaining the suitability of local feeds for animal consumption, while animal breeding and genetic researchers within the department are looking at the gene resources of local breeds relevant to the genetic improvement of livestock. Research in animal health covers a wide spectrum of topics, ranging from the effects of vitamin B12 deficiency on the immune system, studies on the innate immune response of neonatal ruminants, pathological studies associated with caprice arthritis encephalomyelitis virus, brucellosis and tick and tick-borne diseases. Many of the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences faculty have joint projects with other departments, colleges, or Ministries. These researchers are committed to serving the people of Oman and the region through vital, basic, and applied research in the areas of agriculture, life sciences, natural resources and animal science and health. Our research programs focus on basic and applied science, which has an immediate application to Omani animal agriculture, and provides the foundation for scientific information to impact further research endeavours.

• Animal Genomics
• Identification of Ticks in Oman
• Equine Science
• Meat Science
• Molecular Endocrinology

The Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences was established to teach Omani students at the B.Sc. level to understand husbandry and veterinary practices in the production of food-producing animals, pets and exotic animals so that they could use this knowledge to manage various animal production systems. The curriculum is designed to provide graduates who are knowledgeable in animal feeds and nutrition, physiology, genetics, reproduction, production, husbandry and animal health so that our graduates have a thorough understanding of the art and science of animal and veterinary sciences in intensive and extensive system of management and it’s interaction with the environment.

The Department has over the years sent students to mainly to Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Veterinary Clinics, Diwan of the Royal Court, Agricultural Development Center, Research Centers, Commercial Dairy, sheep, goat and poultry farms. 

Specific Internship Objectives:

We would like the students at their placement centres to engage in all or part of the following activities:

1. Understand the role of the organization in relation to animal production.
2. Understand the real problems faced by local animal producers.
3. Feeding and management of various classes of livestock.
4. Understand the methods that are used in the production of plants and cereals for feeding animals.
5. Understand the routine breeding practices that are used in various classes of livestock including natural breeding and artificial insemination.
6. Identify various diseases that affect livestock and how to prevent and treat them.
7. Learn the various methods and techniques that are available to diagnose diseases including the pathology of diseases.
8. Methods of collecting data for research and animal production and reproductive management.
9. Understand the importance of manual and computer-based record keeping.
10. Any other activities the supervisor think will be useful for the students in the future career including extension activities. Read More

Department of AVS
AVS Internship Coordinator:
Phone: +968-24141233
Fax: +968-24413418