The Evolution of Higher Education in Oman Under the Gravity of Globalization and Innovation

Abstract

Globalization is described as the driving force of innovation, knowledge, individual values, and ideas. The influence of globalization and internationalization in higher education institutions has become a key theme in recent research. Higher education institutions are influenced by the social and economic diversity originating from globalization. In the present knowledge society, various new ideas are associated with higher education institutions’ instruction framework. For instance, entrepreneurial universities and corporation universities have emerged through the impact of globalization. The main objectives of this chapter are to examine the significance of globalization and innovation on the evolution of higher education in Oman and to explore the readiness of universities to embark on a second academic revolution in transforming traditional teaching universities into entrepreneurial universities by introducing the triple helix model of innovation. The chapter is to study the entrepreneurial environment in higher education by reviewing the legislation, post-basic education, entrepreneurship education in the school curriculum, entrepreneurship education in the vocational training curricula, Business Simulation Centers (BSCs), national and regional milieu, and existing support structures and clusters for practicing entrepreneurship education in Oman. The current study is conceptual, and the approach consists of formulating proposals and definitions based on an extensive literature review. It has been concluded that based on the overview of the triple helix model from a neo-institutional perspective, the external forces provide a favorable environment for the initiation of entrepreneurial universities in Oman. There are many elements of the triple helix model which are now present in Oman, and the environment is propitious for the establishment of entrepreneurial universities.