Muscat—6 February 2025: The Quality Assurance Office organized an orientation lecture for its employees on "Real Estate Investment" by trainer Khalid Mohammed Al-Alawi. Participants learned about land selection, site analysis, and negotiation strategies. The lecture was delivered in an applied manner that kept pace with market challenges and involved interaction from the audience. Al-Alawi stressed that successful investment depends on strategic knowledge and thoughtful planning to achieve growth and financial sustainability.

The Quality Assurance Office delivered a lecture entitled: How to use small electrical and electronic devices. The lecture was presented by Dr. Rashid Nasser Al Maamari, Deputy Director for Administrative, Financial, and Technical Quality, at the Office on Wednesday, December 25, 2024. The staff were briefed on many electrical and electronic devices and how to effectively benefit from them in daily life situations. During the lecture, the employees learned about more than 30 devices, their names, and how they work.  Many employees expressed great enjoyment of the lecture. 
 

The Quality Assurance Office (QAO), on Sunday, December 22, 2024, organized a lecture entitled "Correspondence Management System (Wosool)."
The lecture was presented by Mrs. Iman Mubarak Al-Hashmi (Acting Head of the Coordination, Follow-up, and Archiving Section) at the QAO. The lecture highlights many aspects, for example: 

• How to enter data into the system and deal with incoming correspondence using icons such as reply, guidance, or complete tasks. Also, if the correspondence is not classified, the employee can re-send it to the designated employee.
• How to prepare the official letter and put them in drafts. 
• The process of the delegation and the period of this delegation.
• The correspondence classification types and methods. 

The staff discussed with the lecturer the different kinds of icons in the system, what they mean, how to deal with them, how to identify the sender, and how to search for comments and attachments in the message.

The Quality Assurance Office organized a lecture titled "Common Errors in the Arabic Language in Functional Writing." The lecture was delivered by Ms. Fatima Ali Al-Balushi, Head of the Preparation and Proofreading Department, at the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research on Wednesday, November 27, 2024. The lecture covered the following topics:

 - The concept of writing and functionalism emphasizes that it extends beyond mere writing to personal and social contexts.
-  Some common errors in functional writing, particularly in correspondence and pronunciation of words.

During the session, staff discussed with the lecturer the correct combination of certain words, common mistakes made by various groups in society regarding pronunciation and word usage, and the importance of avoiding unnecessary repetition in speech.
 

The Quality Assurance Office (QAO) conducted a lecture on the Kaizen methodology that focuses on continuously making minor improvements. The lecturer highlighted the foundation of this methodology, which initially came from Japan. Reference was made to Kaizen's cycle, from identifying the problem, analyzing the current situation, proposing solutions, and even reaching a pattern or standard. In addition, the applications of Kaizen in various educational institutions have been identified. The lecture was held on November 27, 2024, and was delivered by the expert Dr. Humaid  Mohammed Al-Busaidi from the QAO.

The Quality Assurance Office recently held a welcome session for the following new employees: 
- Mrs. Samia Saif Al-Hadi
- Mrs. Lamia Hamoud Al-Anbouri
- Mrs. Mariam Suleiman Al-Jahouri
- Mrs. Fatima Hamdan Al-Sabtieh

The session took place on Sunday, September 1, 2024. Prof. Dr. Sulaiman Al Balushi, the Director of the Quality Assurance Office, welcomed the new employees, introduced himself, and introduced each employee to the newcomers. The attendees learned about their colleagues' qualifications, skills, and experiences. The session concluded with an invitation to enjoy some refreshments.
 

The Quality Assurance Office implemented the monthly meeting entitled Organizational Visions, on Sunday, June 2, 2024, and Dr. Misida Al-Jahwari gave the lecture. Through the lecture, she spoke about Organizational visions and the tasks of leaders and highlighted the characteristics of effective visions, defining them, and what must be done to achieve the vision. The office team, in cooperation with the director, evaluated the vision of the Quality Assurance Office with the intention of reviewing it in the near future.

The Quality Assurance Office implemented an event entitled The Language of Faces, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, where a lecture was given by Mr. Khalid bin Muhammad Al-Alawi. During the lecture, he spoke about how to analyze someone’s personality through their facial features. He also talked about personality types, and how to determine the personality type based on the way they stand up.

Moreover, the office presented a simple gift to Dr. Umama bint Mustafa Al Lawati, in appreciation for the efforts she made at Sultan Qaboos University and the Quality Assurance Office, wishing her further success and prosperity in her life.
 

The Quality Assurance Office implemented the Soft Power Index event on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. The lecture was given by Dr. Humaid Muhammad Al Busaidi, during the lecture, he introduced the employees to the meaning of this index, and the rank of the Sultanate of Oman in this index, the rank of the rest of the countries, and the reasons for the high index in some countries, in addition to holding some contests and activities with incentive prizes for the employees.

The Quality Assurance Office implemented a pre-Ramadan event (Darna), on Sunday, March 10th, 2024, where a lecture was given by Mr. Hilal bin Salem Al Abri (an employee from the Student Guidance Center), entitled Mental Health in the Work Environment, he talked about the concept of mental health in the work environment and its impact on the employee, and he engaged the employees with some activities with prizes as well. After the lecture, the office employees presented a congratulatory gift to Professor Sulaiman bin Mohammed Al Balushi (Director of the Quality Assurance Office) for obtaining the Royal Order of Commendation Medal in the field of scientific research, wishing him more success and prosperity.

Some of the office's employees attended a workshop held by the Omani Authority for Academic Accreditation and Educational Quality Assurance (OAAAQA), represented by the Higher Education Quality Assurance Center. Two training workshops were implemented on the procedures of the updated institutional accreditation system on March 5 and 6, 2024. The first workshop included training a number of representatives of higher education institutions on the updated procedures, the workshop was for one day only, while the second workshop included training a number of external reviewers on the updated system, the workshop was for two days. During the two training workshops, some visual presentations were presented regarding the analysis model (ADRI), and how to write an evaluation request against institutional standards, as well as field visit requirements and its procedures. In addition to providing a number of practical exercises, especially for external reviewers, In order to apply it and enrich the practical aspect of the workshop.

It is worth mentioning that the Higher Education Quality Assurance Center is keen to hold such workshops. In a pursuit to spread a culture of quality, which is an aspect of the commitment of the Center and the Authority in general towards the higher education sector.