Wednesday 01 / July / 2026
Muscat: The Education and Research Committee of the State Council on Wednesday hosted Dr. Abdullah Mohammed Al Shibli, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Higher Education, as part of the Committee's deliberation on the proposed study entitled "Governance Efficiency of Non-Governmental Higher Education Institutions: Government Oversight and Self-Governance.”
chaired by His Excellency Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Sarami, Head of the Committee.
During its eighth meeting of the third regular sitting of the eighth term under the chairmanship of Dr. Abdullah Mohammed Al Sarmi, Head of the Committee, the Committee discussed with the Undersecretary the current landscape of non-governmental higher education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman, the diversity of their academic programmes and their alignment with development needs and labour market requirements, as well as policies supporting these institutions.
The discussion also covered mechanisms for measuring the impact of government investment in these institutions and the role of international partnerships in enhancing education quality and advancing the competitiveness of higher education institutions in line with the objectives of Oman Vision 2040.
The meeting further addressed the legislative and regulatory framework governing non-governmental higher education institutions, policies for the distribution of government scholarships and grants, governance and quality standards and mechanisms for developing the oversight system towards a model focused on output efficiency and performance indicators. Additionally, the discussion examined the flexibility of regulatory frameworks and their capacity to keep pace with technological and global developments.
The meeting also highlighted the importance of strengthening integration between governmental and non-governmental higher education institutions, alongside challenges related to licensing and accreditation, financial sustainability, the measurement of legislative impact and mechanisms for developing the legislative framework to enhance the quality and management efficiency of higher education.
In a separate session, the sub-committee emanating from the Education and Research Committee—tasked with deliberating the proposed study entitled "Research and Innovation: Priorities and Measuring the Return on Development in the Sultanate of Oman"—hosted a number of officials from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) to seek their observations and perspectives on the subject of the study.
The sub-committee, chaired by Dr. Mohammed Nasser Al Saqri, reviewed indicators of scientific output, funding, programmes and research trends over the past ten years, as well as mechanisms for aligning research and innovation with national priorities and sectoral needs, and the impact of incentive and promotion policies on enhancing applied research and innovation.
Discussions also addressed the measurement of the impact of research outputs and their translation into patents, products and institutional applications, alongside the challenges facing these efforts and the university's requirements for increasing the economic and knowledge impact of research.
