State Council hosts Ministry of Education, SQU

MUSCAT: The Education and Research Committee of the State Council on Wednesday hosted Dr Abdullah bin Ali al Shibli, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Education for Higher Education, as part of the Committee's deliberation on the proposed study entitled 'Governance Efficiency of Non-Governmental Higher Education Institutions: Government Oversight and Self-Governance.'
During its eighth meeting of the third regular sitting of the eighth term under the chairmanship of Dr Abdullah bin Mohammed al Sarmi, the Committee discussed with the under-secretary the current landscape of non-governmental higher education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman, the diversity of their academic programmes and their alignment with development needs and labour market requirements, as well as policies supporting these institutions.
The discussion also covered mechanisms for measuring the impact of government investment in these institutions and the role of international partnerships in enhancing education quality and advancing the competitiveness of higher education institutions in line with the objectives of Oman Vision 2040.
In a separate session, the sub-committee emanating from the Education and Research Committee — tasked with deliberating the proposed study entitled 'Research and Innovation: Priorities and Measuring the Return on Development in the Sultanate of Oman' — hosted a number of officials from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) to seek their observations and perspectives on the subject of the study.
The sub-committee, chaired by Dr Mohammed bin Nasser al Saqri, reviewed indicators of scientific output, funding, programmes and research trends over the past ten years, as well as mechanisms for aligning research and innovation with national priorities and sectoral needs, and the impact of incentive and promotion policies on enhancing applied research and innovation.
Discussions also addressed the measurement of the impact of research outputs and their translation into patents, products and institutional applications, alongside the challenges facing these efforts and the university's requirements for increasing the economic and knowledge impact of research.