Banks worldwide play a pivotal role in promoting education and employing national cadres. They work in several ways, including providing tuition financing and student loans for higher education, both locally and internationally. They also finance to support universities and schools in developing infrastructure and offering partial or full scholarships to outstanding students.
Omani banks have taken the initiative in providing such services in recent years, but they need to provide more to support educational, cultural and social trends in general. Recently, Meethaq Islamic Bank introduced several financing options in this regard. Education financing from such institutions is one of the preferred options for customers to achieve their academic goals and aspirations to complete various levels of education.
Today, we see many banking institutions around the world supporting training and qualification programmes for students at various educational levels, especially university students. These institutions receive university and college students and provide them with the necessary practical training, in addition to providing employment programmes for national graduates and preparing them for banking work. They also continue to provide ongoing training in various banking units for overall benefit and with the goal of developing the skills of national cadres through specialised training programmes. Banks also contribute to supporting scientific research and innovation in educational fields and sponsoring educational conferences and seminars. This enables them to strengthen strategic partnerships and cooperate with ministries of education and universities to design programmes that meet the needs of the labour market.
In the Sultanate of Oman, many Omani banks play an active role in financing educational programmes. At the forefront of this work is the significant role played by the Central Bank of Oman, through its continuous guidance and encouragement to commercial banks to support educational institutions and provide them with the necessary funding. This is in addition to participating in the training of Omani cadres in the fields of banking and finance. Furthermore, an annual budget is allocated to the bank's College of Banking and Financial Studies to allocate study places for Omanis wishing to study banking, finance, insurance, accounting, auditing and other programmes required by banking and financial institutions. This is achieved within the framework of policy guidance for commercial banks to support the education sector as part of their social responsibility, while simultaneously supporting the governance framework and establishing controls and regulations for financing education.
Today, the major commercial banks supporting education in Oman are numerous. Some offer loans specifically for students studying inside or outside Oman, some participate in establishing partnerships with numerous universities, and some offer scholarships, which should be increased for both studies inside and outside the Sultanate of Oman, as part of their social responsibility. Some Omani banks are also working on community initiatives to improve the quality of education, while others offer interest-free educational loans with grace periods for students, in addition to sponsoring student activities.
In general, these banking institutions face many challenges from their perspective when financing educational programmes in Oman. These challenges include financing risks and the lack of collateral, as most students lack sufficient collateral. Furthermore, it is difficult to follow up with graduates after that due to graduates changing jobs or residence. Other challenges relate to operational matters, as well as the need to analyse students' creditworthiness and monitor repayment of small loans, which are relatively expensive for these banking institutions.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
