Ministry strives to provide job-linked education

♦ Majlis Ash’shura discusses challenges facing the higher education

♦ Two new colleges to be established in Musandam and Wusta

Zainab al Nassri -

MUSCAT -

Dec. 8: The Majlis Ash’shura continued its discussion with Dr Rawya bint Saud al Busaidiyah, Minister of Higher Education, for a second day on Thursday.

In the presence of 79 members, the session looked into issues related to Oman University, merger of Applied and technology colleges and quality of private higher education graduates.

Dr Rawya explained that the ministry is keen to provide opportunities for Omani youth to learn and get jobs, yet, not having a job doesn’t mean that education has failed. “I appreciate the members’ notices and suggestions and I am satisfied about our achievement in the field. Please don’t attach the increasing number of job seekers with educational failure. We work hard to provide best quality of education for all students in government and the private sector, detect failure spots constantly and provide solutions” she argued.

The minister also indicated that there is a committee between the MoHE and the Ministry of Manpower studying to establish a technology college in Musandam with programmes expected to match the job market needs. Also, there is a proposal to set up a college in Wusta and it is under study.

Regarding student hostels, she commented: “the ministry is working with the investment companies to build hostels for private education establishments. There is a committee headed by the MoM, MoHE to follow up this project. However, there are some colleges which are already providing these facilities to their students”.

Members of the council raised many suggestions. One of the points they made is the need to locate unprofessional teachers and replace them with highly-qualified and trained personnel in order to have strong, skilled, educated outputs. They also asked if the ministry has ever done any study comparing programmes and majors in higher education establishments to market needs. They claim that job seekers number declared recently (45,000) is increasing, on the other hand, there is shortage in some fields. The session discussed the reasons behind the withdrawal of some students from some colleges, criteria used to identify educational fees in private institutions, as well as crisis at Nizwa University.

Dr Rawya also clarified that Nizwa University is having a financial flow problem and the ministry is supporting it. She also talked about education law saying that it is to be accredited soon.