The Dispatch
Future-Ready Oman
Oman’s vision for higher education is evolving, and its move from access to quality is paying dividends.
By Gauri Kohli
"A key component of Oman’s strategy is to equip graduates with skills that meet labour market demands."
“Oman has the potential to attract international students from South Asia, East Africa and the MENA region if visa and housing processes are streamlined.”
"The next major challenge for Oman’s higher education will be scaling up research excellence."
In Brief
- Oman is strategically shifting its higher education focus from providing universal access toward quality, innovation, and alignment with national development priorities (Oman Vision 2040). This led to the merger of 11 institutions into UTAS, the country's largest HEI.
- Competitive government funding schemes are driving a 36.9% surge in research publications focused on national priorities, including green hydrogen and logistics. This effort strengthens university-industry collaboration and technology transfer.
- To achieve global recognition and address skills mismatches, Oman must scale up work-integrated learning (co-ops) and grow applied research clusters. Building employer confidence is key to attracting investment and driving economic transformation.
Oman’s higher education sector is undergoing a major transformation, moving from a long-standing focus on access to a new era defined by quality, innovation and alignment with national development priorities. This shift is guided by Oman Vision 2040, a national blueprint that positions education, research and innovation as central pillars for building a diversified, knowledge-based economy.
The vision has already reshaped the sector in practical ways. Dr Khalaf Marhoun AlAbri, Head of the Department of Educational Foundations and Administration at Sultan Qaboos University, explains, “This strategic shift has been driven by major reforms such as Royal Decree 76/2020, which established the University of Technology and Applied Sciences (UTAS) through the merger of 11 institutions to enhance coherence, quality assurance and alignment with national priorities.”
UTAS is now Oman’s largest higher education institution, serving more than 48,000 students. The consolidation was more than an administrative change: it provided a platform for aligning programmes with national skills requirements, expanding applied learning and fostering research and innovation across multiple campuses.
Dr Zaid Zabanoot, Cultural Attaché at the Oman Embassy in Washington D.C. and an international education expert, highlights the impact: “The formation and expansion of UTAS focused the old ‘access’ model into a clearer applied, skills-first pathway across regions, better labs, more capstone/industry projects, and clearer graduate attributes.”
Aisha Al-Kharusi, Deputy Executive Chairperson of the Modern College of Business and Science (MCBS), notes that the reforms have laid a foundation for the next stage: “The policy, quality assurance, and scale reforms are in place and the next horizon is to deepen RDI output and graduate outcomes against Oman Vision 2040 country-wide key performance indicators.”
From Access to Quality
For decades, Oman’s higher education policy prioritised universal access, a goal largely achieved through expanded public institutions. Today, the focus has shifted: access must now produce high-quality, impactful learning outcomes.
The Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MoHERI) has played a central role in this shift, incentivising research and innovation through competitive schemes such as the Block Funding Programme and Strategic Research Projects. As Dr Zabanoot observes, “Competitive funding is more tied to national priorities (energy transition, water, logistics, tourism, fisheries).”
Dr AlAbri adds, “These measures have strengthened industry-academia collaboration and technology transfer.”
Higher education institutions are now cultivating dynamic innovation ecosystems, moving beyond traditional lecture halls to incubators, entrepreneurship hubs and research platforms such as Innovation Park Muscat and EJAAD. “Institutions are increasingly supporting applied projects in green hydrogen, aviation, logistics and sustainability,” says Al-Kharusi.
University-Industry Collaboration
A key component of Oman’s strategy is to equip graduates with skills that meet labour market demands. Programmes like the Eidaad internship programme place students in industry for a full academic year. Dr AlAbri emphasises its significance: “It gives students practical skills and workplace experience that align closely with employer needs.”
Industry partnerships extend beyond internships. Petroleum Development Oman funds applied research in energy, renewable resources, and water management, while MCBS’s Innovation X Center collaborates with Boeing to offer students real-world projects, co-authored case studies and exposure to employers. “University-industry collaboration is translating directly into employability, research, and innovation outcomes,” says Al-Kharusi.
She highlights the collaboration between Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and the Modern College of Business and Science (MCBS) with Oman Airports, which delivers training programmes, internships and operational research studies. She also points to partnerships between private universities such as Sohar University and Sohar Port and Freezone, which support sustainability and logistics projects while establishing meaningful internship pipelines for students.
Yet challenges remain. Dr Zabanoot points out the need for more co-ops embedded in degree programmes and better labour-market data to inform intake. Additionally, there’s a need for growth in applied research clusters, intellectual property policies, and startup pipelines around national priorities such as green hydrogen, water, food security and tourism.
Internationalisation and Regional Positioning
Oman is also expanding its global footprint. Strategic collaborations, such as the German University of Technology in Oman in partnership with RWTH Aachen University, bring German accreditation practices, modern curricula, research networks and dual-degree programmes. These partnerships not only improve graduate employability but also elevate research quality.
Dr AlAbri compares Oman with other regional hubs like the UAE or Qatar, saying, “Oman offers affordable education costs, a culturally rooted environment with English-medium instruction, and growing expertise in energy transition, applied sciences and environmental studies,” giving it a distinctive position against high-cost Gulf competitors.
Dr Zabanoot, meanwhile, highlights the country’s geography, offering field-based learning opportunities in logistics, marine science, tourism, and mining programmes.
He also highlights Oman’s strategic use of public scholarships and cultural attaché networks, which create targeted pipelines to leading universities abroad. According to Dr Zabanoot, these mechanisms allow Oman to pilot specialised cohorts with top institutions and scale models that prove effective, in comparison with neighbouring hubs like Qatar and the UAE.
An opportunity for the country’s higher education system to grow also lies in international student recruitment. “Oman has the potential to attract international students from South Asia, East Africa and the MENA region if visa and housing processes are streamlined,” says Dr Zabanoot.
Performance and Research Impact
Omani institutions are increasingly visible in global and regional rankings. In the QS World University Rankings: Arab Region 2026, Sultan Qaboos University leads at 8, followed by the University of Nizwa (58), Dhofar University (75), Sohar University (81), GUtech (111), and National University of Science and Technology (125)with A’Sharqiyah University in the 161-170 band. MCBS and Sohar University received QS 5 star ratings this year.
Research output is expanding rapidly. The QS Oman Higher Education Report 2025 notes that in 2024, publications from local institutions rose by 36.9 percent compared to 2023, a surge driven largely by the MoHERI Block Funding Programme.
In addition to national initiatives, higher education institutions are introducing internal incentives to encourage faculty members to increase research productivity, such as performance-based funding, publication rewards and promotion criteria that prioritise peer-reviewed output. These combined efforts reflect a broader push to align Oman’s academic ecosystem with international research standards and national development priorities.
While Sultan Qaboos University remains the oldest public institution, the private sector now dominates higher education, with 25 universities, colleges and university-colleges contributing through innovative programmes, research initiatives, international partnerships and student recruitment. This growth has also enhanced Oman’s internationalisation, with universities forging partnerships across Europe, Asia, and North America.
Opportunities and Challenges
Despite progress, challenges persist. Dr Zabanoot highlights the need to address graduate employability and skills mismatches, research commercialisation and competition for specialist faculty. Opportunities, however, are abundant. He envisions “work-integrated learning at scale” through a national co-op and internship marketplace, alongside a framework for micro-credentials and recognition of prior learning to upskill the workforce in logistics, tourism, coding, and more. He urges Oman to “double down on priority clusters like the Blue Economy, logistics and supply chain, sustainable tourism and heritage, green energy, and cyber and digital services, with joint labs and industry chairs.”
Dr AlAbri underscores the importance of translating structural reforms into measurable global competitiveness through performance-based research funding, talent attraction and research impact.
“The next major challenge for Oman’s higher education will be scaling up research excellence and achieving stronger global recognition, especially as we compete for talent with wealthier Gulf hubs. We need to make sure that our quality assurance systems, graduate outcomes and research impact keep pace with both regional and international benchmarks, particularly in fast-moving areas like artificial intelligence, sustainability and clean energy,” says Dr AlAbri.
Al-Kharusi emphasises that building greater confidence in Oman’s higher education system is essential for the country's long-term economic transformation.
“In the world’s most successful economies, higher education is not just an enabler, it is the driver of innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable growth,” she notes. “For Oman to unlock its full potential, we must position universities and colleges as central players in national development, capable of producing talent, research, and practical solutions that feed directly into economic priorities. This requires stronger alignment with industry, clear outcomes for graduates, and a culture that values excellence, relevance, and accountability.”
She adds that restoring and reinforcing trust among employers, policymakers and investors will be key to attracting long-term investment in research, innovation, and talent development. “Confidence in higher education is the foundation for confidence in the future economy.”
Oman’s large youth population could play an important role in the country’s next phase of development. This generation is gaining the skills and adaptability needed to engage with both regional and global opportunities.
According to Al-Kharusi, success hinges on a cultural shift “from compliance to purpose,” determining how effectively Oman’s higher education system converts ambition into global impact.
Dr Zabanoot confirms that progress is tangible: “The shift is real and measurable, especially in quality assurance and applied relevance. The next gains will come from evidence-driven funding and industry-embedded learning on a scale.” Al-Kharusi concludes, “Oman’s policy reforms and research initiatives may help it develop a more competitive role in higher education. Students and researchers are increasingly contributing to applied projects and research outputs.”