The College of Applied Sciences Ibri becomes the first Applied Sciences College in the Sultanate to be Quality Audited
The College Senior Management Commended for Successfully Managing transition from College of Education to Applied Sciences
Ibri,2 May , 2010: The Oman Accreditation Council (OAC), the Quality Assurance Body for Higher Education in the Sultanate has released the Quality Audit Report of the College of Applied Sciences Ibri (CAS-Ibri), the first among the five Applied Sciences colleges under the Ministry of Higher Education to be audited by the council.
The Quality Audit visit, the final stage of the Institutional accreditation started-off in January 2009 when the CAS-Ibri submitted their portfolio to the OAC, prior to which the CAS had begun its self-study. The panel members for the procedure comprised of experts from around the world as well as representatives from the Higher Education sector in Oman.
The Audit visit itself took place between 3-5 May 2009, during which time the panel spoke to approximately to 130 people which includes, Governing Authorities, staff, students and external stakeholders in addition to some venue visits.
The Quality Audit Report has been published by the Oman Accreditation Council as per the regulations of OAC Board and gives a balanced set of observations about the CAS. The report is available for reviews on http://www.oac.gov.om/tools/whats_new/article/?id=179, the OAC website.
The report starts with a mention of refreshing and well-presented portfolio submitted to the OAC by the CAS and affirmed that the portfolio presentation was in the ADRI (the Higher Education Quality Assurance Model used by OAC) format.
The official publishing of the Audit report by the OAC on the website publicly was done on 1st May 2010.
Addressing the press conference held at Ibri college today Dr. Said Al-rubaie, Director General of CAS, while emphasising the importance of the process of Quality Audit for all higher institutions in Oman in general and Colleges of Applied Science in particular praised Ibri for taking the challenge as the first CAS to undergo the Audit process and valued the commendation it received from the OAC.
“For the CAS-Ibri it is yet another opportunity to put its credentials to public display & constructive feedback” said the Dean of the College.
The CAS-Ibri has been commended for its community Services Activities, Provision of IT facilities, the range of publications for external communication, and the training given to staff especially English language to perform their work more effectively.
The Senior Management of the College has been commended for successfully managing the transition from the College of Education to College of Applied Sciences.
The report also affirms the efforts of the CAS-Ibri in the areas of E-learning, Financial Management, Student Departmental Committees, and defining responsibilities in certain departments so as to avoid overlaps.
The list of recommendations includes the CAS-Ibri to be able to develop sufficient autonomy on key issues that the ministerial policies permit. The OAC has recommended the CAS-Ibri to develop a comprehensive Industry collaboration strategy that needs to cover areas ranging from student engagement, Knowledge transfer, and student employability among the few. The OAC also mentioned the requirement for a comprehensive assessment policy that is consistent between departments and an overall plagiarism policy, which is monitored and disseminated effectively. The OAC report highlighted the CAS to have a research policy in line with the strategic plan for the Colleges.
The dean explained that most of the recommendations has taken care of and that an action plan has been developed to address the rest.
The Audit Panel headed by Dr.Shoba Zacharia, the Dean of Majan College, and comprising of Mr.Ian Hawke, the Assistant Director General in the Dept of Education, Queensland Govt. Australia, Prof. Zybs Klich form Sothern Cross University Australia, Dr.David Palfreyman, from Zayed university, Dr.Ahmed Ghassani from Higher College of Technology, Oman with Prof. Deborah Clayton being the Executive Officer carried on the audit on behalf of the Oman Accreditation Council.
In conclusion the dean valued the encouragement and support which the college has been receiving from HE Dr Rawiya Al Busadiyya, the minister of Higher Education, chairman of CAS Board of Trustees, and from HE the undersecretary Dr Sarmi and the DG of CAS, which greatly helped the college to attain its current status.
