Muscat university to help fill shortage of skilled graduates in Oman

Muscat: Muscat University, Oman's higher education institution will open its doors on September 25 for its first student batch in Pathway Programmes (Foundation and Pre-Masters).
From 2017, the university will provide undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes for Omanis and expatriates through its three faculties of business management, engineering and technology, and transport and logistics.
The university can take up to 160 students this year, 80 in the foundation and 80 to be enrolled in the Per-Master’s program, according to Prof. Yusra Mouzughi, Muscat University’s deputy vice-chancellor for academic affairs.
She said the foundation and Pre-Master’s program will cost around OMR4,000 while the advanced ones will be varied between OMR,4000 to OMR8,000.
“Starting from September 2017, we will be able to have 35 students in each program. While the numbers sound small, they are important to maintain quality,” she said.
Speaking to the Times of Oman, Dr Kevin Dunseath, Regional Manager of the Oxford University Innovation, a subsidiary owned by the University of Oxford, said that Muscat University selected the three faculties.
“We have chosen to focus on business management, engineering and technology, and transport and logistics to enable our students to gain employment,” he said, adding that he has seen a shortage of skilled graduates in these three areas in Oman.
Dunseath explained that Muscat University introduces more specialised degrees and its core is to have their students employed.
The university has now been granted a license to operate as a university by the educational council, the supreme educational body of the Omani government.
Until February-March next year, the university will be located at the Children’s Public Library in Qurum, before moving to its new building in Bausher, near the Avenues Mall.
The university seeks to attract a significant proportion of international students from outside the Sultanate.
Khalil Al Khonji, chair of the university’s board of director signed agreements on Monday to work with Oxford University Innovation and Founding Committee for 18 months and academic agreements with Cranfield University to work on the Graduate Programmes, Aston University for the Undergraduate Programmes and MLS International College for the Pathway Programmes, all institution are from the United Kingdom.
Starting from next year, the Faculty of Business and Management will introduce BSc in accounting for management, MSc in Finance and Management and MSc in Management and Entrepreneurship.
While the Faculty of Engineering and Technology will add BEng Chemical Engineering, MSc Process Systems Engineering and MSc Energy Systems for Thermal Processes.
In the same academic year, the Faculty of Transport and Logistics will add BSc Logistics with Supply Chain Management, MSc Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and MSc Air Transport Management.