Graduate Studies Office

The Graduate Studies Office aims to provide resources, services, and support to guide the graduate academic programs across the university. The Office is also committed to the academic and scholarly success of graduate students.

What is EGAP?

The Graduate Studies Office provides graduate education that encourages research-based decision making.

The Graduate Ambassadors Program at Effat University is an integral element of our postgraduate programs.

EGAP is a suite of tailor-made workshops, specialist skills sessions and personal development planning activities, designed to help you to gain experience and skills that are highly relevant to academic study.

EGAP is student-centered, inclusive and flexible, and provides opportunities for engagement at all levels. The program has been designed to meet a baseline standard of quality that is externally benchmarked.

EGAP is based on Effat University’s IQRA Core Values and the UK’s Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF) – endorsed by the Research Councils UK (RCUK) – the UK Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), and several higher education stakeholders.

EGAP is a professional development framework for planning, promoting, and supporting the personal, professional, and career development of researchers in higher education. It articulates the knowledge, behaviors and attributes of successful researchers and encourages them to realize their potential. For information on the program structure, workshops, and descriptors, please refer to the Effat Graduate Ambassadors Program Handbook.

IQRA and EGAP domains

IQRA has four core domains: research-based thinking, ethical values, leadership, and effective communication. These correspond to best practices in human development. The Vitae Researcher Development Program also has four main domains: knowledge and intellectual abilities, personal effectiveness, research governance and organization, and engagement, influence and impact. Each of the four has three sub-dimensions, as demonstrated in the following diagram.

Working with others

Communication and dissemination

Engagement and impact

Analyzing, synthesizing, thinking critically, evaluating and constructing arguments

EGAP articulates the knowledge, behaviors, and attributes of successful researchers – qualifying you academically through workshops, to make you valuable researchers and employees.

Effat University Graduate Ambassadors Program: Intended outcomes

D1. Research knowledge and abilities

• Awareness of issues related to the rights of other researchers, of research subjects, and of others who may be affected by the research, taking into account confidentiality, ethical issues, attribution, copyright, malpractice, ownership of data and the requirements of the Data Protection Act

• Awareness of the standards of good research practice at Effat University and in the field

• Awareness of relevant health and safety issues and understanding of the processes for funding and evaluation of research

• Awareness of responsibility

• Awareness of the process of academic or commercial exploitation of research results

• Ability to develop theoretical concepts

• Ability to make decisions based on research (research-based decision making)

• Knowledge of recent advances within one’s field and in related areas

• Understanding relevant research methodologies and techniques

• Ability to summarize, document, report and reflect on progress.

D2. Personal effectiveness

• Willingness and ability to learn and acquire knowledge

• Creativity, innovation and originality in one’s approaches

• Ability to maintain working relationships with supervisors, colleagues and peers

• Ability to evaluate one’s behaviors and the impact on others

• Ability to listen, give and receive feedback and respond perceptively and in a timely manner.

D4. Intellectual abilities and capabilities

• Ability to write clearly and in a style appropriate to purpose

• Ability to construct coherent arguments and articulate ideas clearly to a range of audiences, formally and informally through a variety of techniques

• Capability to constructively defend research outcomes at seminars and via examination

• Ability to generate public appreciation of one’s activities

• Ability to support the learning of others when involved in teaching, mentoring or demonstrating activities

• Ability to recognize and validate problems

• Ability to construct original, independent and critical thinking.

Knowledge base

Cognitive abilities

Creativity

Research standards, requirements, resources and professionalism

• Flexibility and open-mindedness

• Self-awareness and the ability to identify own training needs

• Ownership for one’s career progression, setting realistic and achievable career goals, developing ways to improve employability

• Self-discipline, motivation, and thoroughness

• Ability to draw boundaries

• Ability to initiate and work independently and self sufficiently.

D3. Influence and impact

Professional conduct

Research management

Finance, funding and resources

Personal qualities

Self-management

Professional and career development

• Ability to develop and maintain co-operative networks