Information Technology at Omani Institutions

1. Ali Sharaf Al Musawi Information Technology at Omani Institutions

2. Objectives At the end of this lecture, the students will be able to: • Identify IT current status and developments, future suggestions.

3. Introduction • Information technology (IT) is playing a major role in the development and advancement of modern states and in the enrichment of their people. • Many countries have reached, through the proper implementation and utilization of IT, high levels of increase in productions and in sharpening their competitiveness abilities; and, consequently, a higher standard of living.

4. IT in Oman • The Sultanate has taken the following initiatives: • Put forward a comprehensive strategy for establishing a solid IT presence in the Sultanate. • Put forward a comprehensive plan for e-government (e-Sultanate) that would provide a one-stop shop for the processing of all government transactions. • Create an environment that is appropriate for the healthy growth of e-commerce and e-business. • Established ITA and Knowledge Oasis to provide a commonplace for IT specialists and investors from within and outside the Sultanate. • Establishment and advancement of a solid and competitive IT infrastructure in the Sultanate faces many challenges.

5. IT studies • Non of the institutions in the whole Sultanate offers graduate programs in IT except the Sultan Qaboos University which offers master programs in two of its three IT departments. • None of the institutions is offering Ph.D. programs in IT. • Some of the private colleges do not offer BS degrees in IT. • The number of students in the master programs forms only about 1% of all IT students whom also form less than 12% of all students in higher education institutions.

6. Academic and Technical IT Staff • Private institutions have less than half the total number of all academic staff that are in all government and private higher educational institutions. • Most of the academic IT staff in private institutions are non-PhD holders. • Such low number of PhD holders could greatly affect the quality of IT graduates from private institutions. • Quality of graduates in private institutions is not only affected by the low number of PhD holders in those institutions, but also by the high load of students per instructor in comparison to government institutions. • Most of IT instructors also teach service courses for non-IT majors.

7. Academic and Technical IT Staff • Government institutions have achieved over 50% in Omanization compared to about 8% Omanization in private institutions. • Scarcity of Omanis with high degrees in IT and their preference to work in government institutions because of high salaries and attractive employment incentives, make private institutions have no choice but to seek for non-Omanis. • Only around 30 students are currently enrolled in Masters degrees in IT in all Omani higher educational institutions. • Such low number of IT graduate students would not be enough to fill the need of IT professionals in the Sultanate, especially that such students still have a long way to earn their PhDs. • No institution in the Sultanate is currently offering a PhD degree in IT.

8. IT personnel • Government institutions have reached over 90% Omanization of their technical staff. • Private institutions have low number of IT technical personnel. • Qualified Omani specialists, especially in IT, are scarce and demand high salaries, which private institutions, in most situations, could have difficulty to match. • In addition, most private educational institutions are still new compared to government institutions.

9. IT Equipment • Government institutions have a lower number of students per PC. • Despite the fact that most of the institutions offer non-IT majors, PC use is not limited to IT students. • Availability of resources would not only affect the quality of IT graduates, but rather all graduates of those institutions.

10. Internet Connections • Most of the institutions, with the exception of the Sultan Qaboos University, have dialup lines, or, in best cases, low-speed leased lines. • No doubt that such lack of high Internet connections would affect both students and instructors accessibility to vast resources available through the Internet and that are necessary to build solid knowledge in graduates of those institutions. • Officials in educational institutions state that lack of required infrastructure for high-speed Internet connections and the high prices charged by OmanTel are among the reasons for not having such high-speed Internet connections.

11. Internet Connections • Additionally, with the current trend in education to avail almost everything through the Internet, it would be almost impossible in the future to graduate competitive IT students without providing them with fast, state-of-the-art online applications and resources that depend almost entirely on high-speed connections. • Telecommunication agencies, such as OmanTel, should provide the necessary infrastructure to fulfill future communication needs and make it accessible to educational institutions at reasonable costs.

12. Local Area Networks • Most of the institutions, with the exception of the Sultan Qaboos University that has a 1-GB fiber optic network, still have low-speed networks. • Such networks could be sufficient for current needs, but as the number of students increases and the number and complexity of software applications rise, such network capabilities would not be sufficient.

13. Websites • Even though most of higher education institutions have established Internet websites for their institutions, information in such websites are limited to basic information about the institutions, available majors, and tuitions. • None of such websites, with the exception of the Sultan Qaboos University, have information about staff qualifications, course outlines, or research conducted by their faculties. • Availability of such information is essential not only to students hunting for an institution to study in, but also to researchers from within and outside the Sultanate. • Most of the institutions also do not have any mean in electronic form for keeping contact with their graduated students. This alumni service is a trend in most of the known universities.

14. Software Applications • Some of these institutions are lacking some of the systems that are very essential in any education institution. For example, some institutions out do not have a library system. • Some of those who have library systems, have only a basic system that runs in standalone PCs, which eventually would not be adequate to support current needs of higher education students and instructors. • Some institutions are lacking the students information system (SIS). Such system is very essential to students, faculty, and other institution officials.

15. Software Applications • Most of the systems are purchased and a few of them were developed within the institution. • There is no doubt that purchasing a system relieves the institution from the burden of developing and supporting the system. However, ready-made systems, in many cases, do not fit the requirements of the institution. In addition, those ready-made systems only support the English language, which might not be suitable for Omani institutions whom the majority of their students and staff are Arabic-speaking. • A central agency, or even a higher educational institution such as the Sultan Qaboos University who has all of these essential systems both in Arabic and English, can play the role of coordinating the purchase or development of systems that can meet most of the needs of educational institutions.

16. Budgets and Spending • Government institutions spend more on IT than private institutions. • Government educational and technical colleges receive little financial support on IT because the ministries to whom they belong are responsible for most of their major IT spending, including construction of labs; purchase of equipments and applications; and maintenance of IT-related buildings, equipments, and applications.

17. Challenges • The most faced challenge is the lack of qualified local IT specialists. • The volatile nature of IT which makes educational institutions, especially private ones, difficult to keep up with the changes.

18. Recommendations Strategies and Policies • A unified authoritative agency should be established to take the responsibility for the production; evaluation; implementation; and renewal of IT-related general policies, strategies, procedures, and curricula. higher education institutions should play a major role in the cooperation and coordination with this authoritative agency.

19. Recommendations Academic and Technical IT Staff • There is a great need to increase the number of academic staff in IT-related private higher education institutions.

20. Recommendations IT Graduates • The number of students in the Masters program of IT-related fields should be increased to fulfill the current and future requirements of the local market and the economic development of the country. • Higher education institutions should start offering Ph.D. programs to cover the shortage of Omani Ph.D. holders in most higher education institutions.

21. Recommendations IT Curriculum • In order to fulfill the need of the local market and the continuous advancements in IT, IT departments should have well-established strategies and plans for the development, evaluation, and improvement of their IT curricula and programs; and the evaluation of the outcomes of such curricula and programs with respect to the needs and advancements of IT in the Sultanate.

22. Recommendations Resources and Infrastructure • IT departments should have well-defined plans for improving their infrastructure and updating their equipments, networks, and software with state-of-the-art IT technologies and systems to elevate the quality of IT graduates. • Education institutions should have High-speed Intranet and Internet connections. • Education institutions should have well-defined plans for establishing e-Learning, distant learning, and other technologies that span their entire curricula.

23. Recommendations Budgets • Education institutions should depart from furnishing financial needs on as-needed basis, and should have well-established plans and well-defined budget allocations for IT-related needs.