Representatives of Oman Visited the University of Turku
A delegation from the Sultanate of Oman visited the University of Turku on March 20, 2014. The visitors familiarised themselves with the Finnish university education and mapped the possibilities for cooperation in higher education.
The education system in Oman has advanced in leaps and bounds during the reign of the current Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said. When the Sultan acceded to the throne in 1970, Oman had only three schools. Now, four decades later, there are over a thousand schools and literacy has risen to nearly 87 per cent.
Especially girls’ educational prospects have improved: their participation in basic education is nearly as good as the boys’ and over half of the university students are women.
The university culture of Oman is quite young. The only university in Oman, Sultan Qaboos University, was founded in 1986. However, there are several universities of applied sciences in the country. The university education has been developed to meet the demands of the labour market, especially in the fields of international trade, communication, design, technology and IT.
The delegation that visited the University of Turku included the representatives of the Oman Ministry of Education, Sultan Qaboos University and the Oman Department of Science Policy. The visitors were interested in the study options, joint degree possibilities and research cooperation.
Text: Hannu Aaltonen
Photo: Turku University of Applied Sciences
Translation: Mari Ratia