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The learning curve

Private colleges and universities in the higher education sector have come into their own through specialisations
Nazia Khan

One of the main challenges of human resource development in Oman has been the increasing gap between the large number of secondary school graduates and the comparatively limited capacity of public higher education. As of 2005, there were 63,000 secondary school graduates, and government post-secondary institutions could absorb only a little over 10,000 of them. This demand-supply disparity is the driving force behind the growing involvement of the private sector in the field.

Following the issuance of a royal decree to promote the development of private higher education in the country, the private sector got the support it needed to move in. It was encouraged by incentives, including allocation of land for construction, grants up to RO3mn for capital investment, and scholarships for its students. For the government, the issue was not just higher education. Connected were the causes of manpower requirements and Oma-nisation, both in the present and in the future. All these points combined meant a true ope-ning up of the higher education sector for the private sector.

Early birds
Currently, there are 16 private colleges and three private universities functioning in the sultanate. For most of them, starting up was, more than anything else, about understanding the needs and working to fulfil them. Explains Dr Rahul Arora, dean of the newly instituted Oman Dental College (ODC), "The reason for our existence is that the government recognised the need for more Omani dentists in Oman; dentists who would be trained to a level that, on graduation, would meet the academic standards of the Ministry of Higher Education and the clinical standards of the Ministry of Health."

Rapid growth has followed initial goals for most private colleges. The Middle East College of Information Technology (MECIT) started in 2002, with 180 students, and a built-up area of 3,000sqmtr. In 2007, they have about 1,800 students and a built-up area of 11,000sqmtr, informs managing director, Lefeer Muhamed. "We are also planning another building that will be completed in two years. We have achieved all this by ploughing back the internal accruals."

Growth achievement has been on target for Sohar University as well, when it comes to increase in student intake. Oman's first private university has around 3,000 students registered with it. Says Dr Abood Sawafi, deputy vice chancellor, Sohar University, "Two years ago, we had 1,100 students. Last year we had 1,800 students. This is a significant development for us." While the university has accumulated losses for the previous years, Dr Sawafi says that they hope to break even this year and start providing returns to their shareholders.

Education does tend to be a comparatively long-term investment. And for private investors in higher education, particularly in professional courses such as dentistry, there needs to be an understanding of what Dr Arora calls the philanthropic element of the investment. "The approach that we took with our investors was very clear right from the beginning. The focus is not on profit, it is on the benefit for the country." And this is one sentiment that is shared by several others.

On an average, annual fees for higher education in the private sector range between RO2,000 to RO3,000. It is competitive by international standards, but in Oman enrolling in a private university may not be the first prefe-rence as it is an expensive proposition when you look at the fact that education is free in government-run institutes like the Sultan Qaboos University. The private entities can, however, score through their specialisations, offering courses that are not available in the public institutes.

Bernard La Berge, dean, Modern College of Business and Science, talks about the private education sector as one with a humanitarian cause. "As higher education in Oman develops, the larger issue is to have ways for the public sector to help students who want to participate in private education." Easily available student loans, linked perhaps to the accreditation status of colleges and universities, is one way to go about this. What accreditation will accomplish, La Berge believes, is the mutual recognition of standards, both in the region and outside it. This is particularly significant if private colleges and universities in Oman want to attract more international students.

Understanding adaptation
All private higher education institutes in the sultanate have academic affiliations with foreign universities. But it will take a more involved approach and a focus on backward integration to extract the best of a global-local mix. For example, it might seem like an obvious move to change a course unit on the American legal environment to one on the Omani legal environment, for a student who is studying in the sultanate and planning to work here. But this might not happen fast enough, ultimately making the course unit redundant.

The fact that most colleges need to have foundation courses with an intensive focus on English language and mathematics skills also seems a case of divided concentration. These strengths could have already been developed in students at an earlier stage to facilitate ease and speed in their higher education.

Besides, a one-year foundation course has a lot less scope in terms of time as compared to 12 years of schooling. Says Dr A M Agrawal, dean, Waljat Colleges of Applied Sciences, "There has to be more emphasis on English and mathematics for students in school, though we have seen a lot of efforts and seriousness from the Ministry of Higher Education to improve standards."

The Oman Medical College, which was established in 2001, offers degree programmes in medicine and pharmacy. The first class, which will graduate in June 2008, has about 30 students. Dean Diana Beattie informs that there is a significant attrition rate, ten per cent or perhaps a little higher. She thinks that this will be true in other medical colleges as well. "This doesn't have as much to do with intelligence as it has to do with aptitude. Sometimes parents will encourage their children to go to medical school though they have no idea what it entails."

In western countries, most medical schools will not accept students unless they have done volunteer work in a hospital or worked with a physician. What is needed here is a longer planning period before the students join higher education institutes and extensive contact between the universities and students months before they register.

Connecting with the market
Even a cursory look at the private players in the higher education field shows that they are equipped to offer students the widest variety of options in the best possible settings. But does that translate into affordability? Would Omani students be better off if there were more no-frills colleges that charged lower fees?

MECIT's Muhamed doesn't think so. "In education, I don't think we should be talking about no-frills. Our state-of-the-art library is a must, our computer systems are a must, the connectivity is a must, decent classrooms are a must. These are not frills, these are essentials." He adds that high fees are an international phenomenon. "Is there any part of the world where the cost of education is getting lower? We are going into an era of human capital, and human capital is getting more and more expensive."

Sure enough, companies are queuing up to buy into the human capital. And colleges are developing their curricula accordingly. Dr Sawafi says that Sohar University has recognised engineering as its centre of excellence. "Sohar is a growing industrial hub and we are keen to address the market needs. Through inputs from our industrial liaison committee as well as feedback from students, we revise our curriculum every year."

Frank McIntosh, principal and dean, Caledonian College of Engineering, talks about the positive response that its annual career fairs garner. Last year, it was decided to open up the fair to students of all higher education colleges and universities in the sultanate. "We will be having our tenth career fair in April, where we are expecting 50-60 organisations. Employers that come to Caledonian are, of course, essentially looking for engineers but those companies are large operators and they also need people from many other disciplines."

The college, which started with 23 students in 1996, now has around 1,500 students. Adds McIntosh, "Our follow-up statistics show that in any year, an excess of 95 per cent of all our graduates are either employed or in further studies within six months." Meanwhile, it is important for the general employability of their students that colleges maintain rigorous quality standards, and not give out grades where they are undeserved. As Beattie points out, "If everybody passes, it could be that standards are not high enough."

But standards are improving, as are the number of students entering into and passing out of private colleges and universities. The number of students enrolled in private universities has increased from 150 in 1995 to almost 17,000 in 2006. When the Waljat Colleges of Applied Sciences started in 2001, it had more expatriate students than Omani students. Now, informs Dr Agrawal, about 75 per cent of its students are Omanis. Being a member of the Association of International Universities gives its degrees worldwide recognition. Their respective affiliations and accreditations do the same for several other colleges.

Cohesion in education
At this point of time, there is no real sense of competition among the players in the private higher education sector. Most regions, except Muscat, have just one college or university. But the business is evolving, particularly since government support and involvement is steadily helping to raise the bar. There are interesting times ahead for the sector. And the extent of the innovation that the participants will bring in, is the only limit to how much it can grow.