Oman’s Minister of Higher Education issues decision regarding educational specializations

Muscat: Her Excellency Prof. Dr. Rahma bint Ibrahim Al Mahrouqi, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, issued a ministerial decision regarding the controls of offering educational specializations in the first university degree and the educational qualification diploma in private universities.

The ministerial decision stipulated that the admission of students to programs of educational specializations should be in the first university degree and educational qualification diploma, starting from the current academic year 2020/2021, according to the annual plan approved by the committee concerned with the executive procedures for the programs for preparing and qualifying teachers, according to the specializations, numbers required and gender for each specialty and in coordination with Competent bodies, and that the scholarship process for students is limited at the expense of the state in educational specializations at the first university degree level to the specializations that correspond to the needs of the Ministry of Education.

Private universities must provide the committee concerned with the implementation procedures for teacher preparation and qualification programs with its annual capacity in various educational specializations at the level of the first university degree and diploma in educational qualification. This is in order to ensure that the universities’ absorptive capacity is compatible with the annual plan of the Ministry of Education.

As each private university accepts (25) male and female students annually, as a minimum, in each educational specialty that it is authorized to offer at the level of the first university degree and diploma in educational qualification. This is to ensure the sustainability of these majors, provided that the maximum limit is determined by the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation in coordination with the Ministry of Education. Private educational institutions must, in accordance with the ministerial decision, not violate any additional conditions or controls adopted by the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation. And that requests to apply for educational programs at the first-degree level in private higher education institutions are dealt with according to the categories and conditions set by the ministry.

The ministerial decision stipulates that for students on scholarship for educational programs within the Ministry’s internal scholarship program, the applicant student must be of Omani nationality and hold a general education diploma or its equivalent for the current academic year (recent graduate), and that the general student’s average in the General Education Diploma or its equivalent is not less than 80 %, And that the student achieves the required percentage in each subject of specialization according to each major, and that the student’s age should not exceed (25) years on the first of October of the year in which he was registered and not be less than (16) years.

The student must also fulfill the conditions for applying for the program as stated in the section on study programs and the conditions for joining them, in addition to the applicant must be healthy fit to work in the teaching profession with an approved medical report, and to pass a personal interview by the relevant committee at the university for which he is applying.

The same conditions apply to students wishing to study educational programs at the first university degree level on their own account (new students). And to make a comparison between applicants according to their rates, starting from the top.

Whereas, the admission of students wishing to change specialization to educational programs at the first university degree level is required that the general student’s average in the General Education Diploma or its equivalent should not be less than 80%, and that the student achieves the required percentage in each subject of the specialization. The student must not exceed the total period of scholarship for a bachelor’s degree (for a student who is delegated from the ministry and controls governing the transfer of students of internal scholarships are applied to him), and the applicant must be healthy fit to work in the teaching profession with an approved medical report, and he must pass the personal interview by the concerned committee at the university for which he is applying, The age of the applicant on the first of September of the academic year in which he will submit the application should not be more than 30 years old.

source: alroya