Transforming the World Through Education
I personally welcome you to the College of Education website where we present the accomplishments of our faculty and students along with the results of our national and international collaborations. When you see yourself in the role of an undergraduate or graduate student, faculty member or collaborator working toward excellence in education transformation, please contact us. We look forward to sharing our mission, vision and work with you.
The work of an education college directly affects the future of the society it serves. The Sultan Qaboos University College of Education has served a vital role in the transformation of education in Oman. Since its inception in 1986 the College of Education has worked closely with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education to prepare and train teachers and professionals needed for the expansion and development of the Omani education system. Our continuing role has several facets: education of teachers and administrators, research, international collaboration and modeling of excellence in developmentally appropriate educational settings and practices.
Strategically, we are moving into a new phase of our development. During the first 23 years we have been a vital part of the University in terms of the leadership of our faculty. We have prepared the highest quality teachers and educational leaders through undergraduate and master’s level degree programs. We have been an integral part of the transformation of the education of our children and education professionals. One of our main goals has been to promote caring, creative, critical thinkers and life long learning in our student teachers. As we move forward we are expanding our master’s programs and fine tuning our existing bachelors programs. We are exploring doctoral programs in critical need areas such as English language, science, and mathematics teaching as well as advanced research methodology. This expansion is lead by a highly qualified faculty whose achievements in research and leadership are presented on their individual websites
The research conducted by the international faculty contributes to understanding the problems related to the development of children, education professionals and education change and reform. For example, faculty research projects explore the effectiveness of recently implemented Basic Education Curriculum, the health and fitness of university students, learning differences, and early childhood education models. Through the visibility of their research, faculty members have accepted leadership roles in Omani, Gulf region and international research organizations. Faculty share the passion for research with students as exemplified in the recent Autism exhibition presented by a student societies. Several funded projects, for example, a Middle East Partnership Initiative, have forged collaborations with other institutions such as United Arab Emirates, Yale, and Northern Kentucky Universities. Other collaborations are also envisioned with Australian, Asian, and European Union universities. These research efforts include the publication of Educational and Psychological Studies Journal and the hosting of research conferences such as ICET 2009 to be held in Oman.
The Sultan Qaboos University campus is also the site for The Early Childhood Center. The Center serves several purposes. It provides quality education for young children; is a practice teaching site; educates parents and the community; and is a research center. The success of the Center has generated ideas for other College sponsored demonstration and diagnostic sites.
Concerns about Oman's economic future within a depressed global economy are stronger than ever. Competitiveness in every market creates tremendous pressure on educators to help every student meet high standards of proficiency in every field. To this end, the College has established on-going quality assurance standards and committees. These standards are used to measure student teacher, in-service teacher, and K-12 student achievement along with performance of the College administration, faculty and staff.
All of our accomplishments and strategic plans continue to be based on community collaboration. Major collaborators will be other SQU colleges and programs, private colleges and universities, the Ministries of Education and Higher Education, our students and alumni, international university partners, and local and international businesses. We look forward to working with you as we address issues and solve problems critical to the future of education in Oman, in the Gulf and around the world.
Dr. Thuwayba Al Barwani
Dean of Education
April, 2009