QS: What is your university’s vision and how is its mission and actions unique within the region?

The University of Nizwa’s (UoN) vision is to be a beacon of knowledge and enlightenment; a prominent institution of excellence known for the quality of its graduates and its contribution to society.

Its mission follows naturally: to cultivate positive and ethical thinking, to preserve cultural heritage while advancing discovery and to graduate women and men equipped with the knowledge, skills and values required for meaningful work and responsible citizenship.

What differentiates UoN is not the wording but the architecture that makes these ideas real. Faculty governance anchors academic standards and protects inquiry. The not‑for‑profit model aligns investment with long‑term social value rather than short‑term returns. The university’s ethos—serious, inclusive and forward‑looking—gives coherence to everything from research strategy to campus life. In practice, this means programmes are built around national needs, quality assurance is a living system and community engagement is treated as scholarship, not charity.

QS: What skills and values does society need to succeed and why and how is your university addressing those skills and values?

Society’s needs are converging around five capability families. First, digital fluency and data literacy: the capacity to work with information, models and AI responsibly. Second, sustainability mindsets: systems thinking about climate, resources, food and water. Third, entrepreneurial capability: the confidence to create value through new ventures and intrapreneurship. Fourth, bilingual communication and cultural intelligence: operating in Arabic and English across disciplines and borders. Fifth, ethics, leadership and civic responsibility: the trust‑building habits that allow complex systems to function.

UoN addresses these needs through a whole‑university approach. Curricula embed analytical thinking, problem solving and communication across majors. Capstone projects and research studios solve real problems in health, logistics, business, agriculture, culture and the creative economy. Work‑integrated learning, service learning and innovation challenges convert classroom knowledge into social and economic value. The result is graduates who are job‑ready on day one and growth‑ready thereafter.

Values are cultivated intentionally. The university’s commitment to heritage and identity coexists with a demand for global competence. Students learn to reason with evidence, to speak and write with clarity, to collaborate across difference and to place integrity above convenience. UoN’s endowment initiatives and scholarships widen access, making talent, not background, the determinant of opportunity.

Faculty mentorship, research assistantships and entrepreneurship support build early career momentum. With strong participation of Omani women across disciplines, the university contributes to leadership pipelines that are both equitable and competitive, advancing national aspirations through practical pathways.

QS: Where are the biggest opportunities for growth in higher education and social advancement in your region?

The most significant opportunities for higher education and social advancement in Oman and the wider region are mission‑oriented and collaborative. The first is lifelong and flexible learning. In an economy where the half‑life of skills is shrinking, stackable micro‑credentials and degree‑integrated professional pathways can turn reskilling from an event into a habit. Universities that accredit short, high‑signal learning and tie it to industry standards will strengthen employability and productivity.

The second opportunity is applied research that serves national missions such as energy transition, water and food security, advanced manufacturing, sustainable tourism and digital health. Problem‑solving labs, policy pilots and startup studios, co‑designed with government and industry, accelerate the journey from idea to impact.

A third opportunity is women’s economic participation and leadership. When women lead in STEM, education and enterprise, social returns compound across generations.

A fourth is the greening of campuses and communities. Net‑zero roadmaps, circular operations and climate‑ready curricula can make universities living laboratories that model the transition for society at large.

A fifth opportunity is quality, data and agility. When a university continuously measures what matters, like learning outcomes, skills evidence, research translation, graduate trajectories, it can iterate faster, improve equity and align more closely with employer demand. Data‑informed programme design, portfolio review and student support help institutions pivot ahead of the market rather than after it. Across all five opportunities, collaboration is decisive: public‑private partnerships, international research consortia, civic alliances and alumni networks convert institutional strength into national advantage. UoN’s governance model and mission clarity allow it to partner with confidence while safeguarding academic independence and cultural integrity.

QS: If you could shape higher education in one key way to make it better, where would you focus on why?

If we could reshape higher education decisively, we would make employability a shared and measurable outcome across the entire academic enterprise, not a task delegated to a career office. This requires five shifts. One: every programme maps to a published skills architecture that includes digital capability, sustainability literacy, entrepreneurial thinking, communication and leadership.

Two: every student curates a skills passport that includes coursework artifacts, research outputs, community projects, internships and micro‑credentials, assessed against transparent rubrics.

Three: every course uses authentic assessment, such as case challenges, data assignments, design sprints, policy briefs, co‑designed with employers and community partners.

Four: every semester offers work‑integrated learning for a critical mass of students through co‑ops, practicums, research assistantships and problem‑solving studios tackling national priorities.

Five: every department closes a quality loop that tracks outcomes, including placement, licensure, startup formation, publications with social impact, and then iterates curricula accordingly.

UoN is positioned to lead such a paradigm because its incentives are aligned with public value. Faculty governance keeps academic judgment in the foreground. The not‑for‑profit model sustains investment in laboratories, digital infrastructure and student support. The university’s culture—serious about quality, generous in community, confident in identity—motivates students to take on difficult problems and equips them to solve those problems with humility and skill. As these shifts take hold, the degrees students earn will be accompanied by the practical proof points that employers value and communities need.

QS: What are you most hopeful for or excited about in the future?

First, the fusion of AI with humanistic education offers a profound opportunity. When students learn to use data and models ethically, to ask better questions, to test ideas, to write and design with clarity, AI becomes an amplifier of judgment rather than a substitute for it.

Second, the greening of education is moving from aspiration to practice. By embedding climate literacy, resilience planning and circular‑economy entrepreneurship into teaching, research and operations, the university can graduate citizens who are climate‑ready and capable of leading the transition.

Third, the democratization of opportunity is accelerating. Through endowment support, scholarships and targeted student services, the university lowers financial and social barriers so that first‑generation students can thrive as researchers, founders, clinicians, educators and public servants.

Fourth, regional cooperation is deepening, through joint degrees, shared labs, field stations and mobility programmes, allowing students to learn in multiple contexts and faculty to pursue bigger questions together.

Finally, we are encouraged by momentum validated by external benchmarks. Rankings do not define UoN, but they signal to families, partners and funders that the university delivers on its promises. Being first among private institutions and second nationally in the QS Arab Region context reflects persistent attention to fundamentals: robust curricula, student support, faculty development, research relevance and community engagement.

More important than any score, however, is the character of the graduates. They leave with habits of mind—curiosity, discipline, empathy, courage—that prepare them to build enterprises, steward resources, serve communities and mentor those who follow. Those human qualities will determine how well Oman navigates uncertainty and converts it into possibility.