First Private University Is Set to Open in Oman

Oman’s first private institution of higher learning will open this month, the government has announced. Sohar University, which is named for and located in Oman’s second-largest city, will offer undergraduate degrees in engineering, business, management, and information technology.

Ever since May 1999, when Sultan Qaboos issued a royal decree legalizing private higher education, there has been a marked increase in interest in Oman among private providers of higher education, “especially from America, Britain, and Australia,” according to Soud al-Timmami, director general for private universities and colleges in the ministry of higher education. Oman has had only one university, the state-run Sultan Qaboos University. In addition, there are six government colleges that cater to the country’s student population.

Sohar University, which is owned by the for-profit Oman Education and Training Investment Group, has established ties to the University of Queensland, in Australia. Study-abroad programs between the two universities will be linked, as will faculty and staff members, who will be encouraged to visit each other’s institutions through exchange programs. Sohar will base its courses on the University of Queensland’s curriculum. “It’s an Australian model, but it’s much closer to the American system of higher education than to the British system,” Mr. al-Timmami said.

The vice chancellor-elect of Sohar University, R. E. Volker, told reporters in Oman that the institution would “lend credibility” to the government’s new policy on private higher education and support its objective of providing more educational opportunities to young people.

The government has also created by royal decree an accreditation board governing the activities of both private and public institutions of higher learning. “We are very much concerned with the quality of higher education,” said Mr. al-Timmami. “We want to start on the right footing.”