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14-01-2019

Oman Observer

Salalah, The Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) is working on a project to rank all the higher educational institutions in the Sultanate to ensure they maintain high standards. Speaking to the Observer during his recent visit to Salalah-based higher education institutions, Dr Abdullah bin Mohammed al Sarmi, Under-Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, said: “The ranking project is under “serious consideration. Apart from institutional accreditation, we are working on an important project in which higher educational institutions will be ranked based on their overall performance. Quality is high on our agenda. We are trying to achieve it in close coordination with the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA),” he said.

“Many projects are under way to promote quality in higher educational institutions. Ranking is one of them in that direction,” said Dr Al Sarmi, who is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of OAAA. He lauded the efforts of OAAA in ensuring quality in higher educational institutions by setting standards for assessment and granting accreditation.

“It is a lengthy process. But this process is important to streamline and standardise higher educational institutions,” he said.

He congratulated the Dhofar University for securing OAAA institutional certificate. It is the first Omani university to obtain this accreditation. OAAA certification is a quality assessment exercise that comprises two stages.

The first is Institutional Quality Audit (IQA), followed by Institutional Standards Assessment (ISA). When an institution is unable to meet or more accreditation standards, it needs to undergo Institutional Standards Reassessment (ISR). The certification depends on outcome of an institution’s first or second ISR in meeting accreditation standards. An institution can undergo a second ISR a maximum of one year after the first ISR. Ranking system is expected to set challenges for higher educational institutions to maintain standards and compete for better positions.