Towards Quality Higher Education in Oman

Abstract

The past decade shows a steep upward trend of countries in the region trying to become at par with global standards in education by implementing and adopting uniform and more stringent quality assurance measures for their various higher education institutes, as well as requiring these institutes to become accredited by authorized quality standards bodies. The Sultanate of Oman, although having no formal government higher education provision prior to 1986, had undergone a strong growth in providing higher education in different sectors, and is now deeply committed to adopting a national quality management system for its higher education sector. It is the aim of this paper to describe the progress happening towards this end in one of the largest higher education sectors in the Sultanate of Oman, namely the Colleges of Technology. This paper details some of the concrete advances that had been achieved by the colleges of technology over the past few years in the implementation of quality assurance in order to gain institutional accreditation. It also highlights the key challenges faced and offers some recommendations.