Khaleej Times reports that Oman's Research Council has called for Oman to quickly implement PhD programs in order to improve the country's research capabilities. It seems that the major impetus behind this is to better link academic capabilities to Petroleum Development Oman's needs.
It is critical that a country's educational institutions and its educational infrastructure are linked so that the educational pipeline is creating a product that is employable and offers needed capabilities to industry. The linkage of PhD programs in Oman to PDO's needs is therefore beneficial. However, I do not know that the rest of Oman's higher education system is in good enough shape to really make the leap to this level. Are Oman's baccalaureate and masters degree programs well-developed, linked to the economy's needs, and producing capable graduates? If so, then the logical next step is to the PhD level. However, if these levels are not in order, I fear that a leap to the PhD level will not meet industry's needs and will end up as an irrelevant diploma mill. I think that the institutions have to be in pretty good order to attract the expertise needed for a faculty capable of producing meaningful PhD diplomas, and the associated research. Can anyone comment on this?
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3 comments:
Nice post Leo.
I think there is Limited scope for a Quality PHD programme here at the present time.
The educational system needs an overhaul from the elementary level up. SMart, motivated kids are not receiving the educations they diserve. The high school programmes are graduating thousands of kids who know thier maths and thier Arabic and Geography but are totally lacking in World History, ENglish, Higher sciences and creative arts, not to mention the important life skills that can't be quantified on a written test. Self direction, Independent thinking, Empathy, and leadership skills are just as important, if not more important out in the real world.
THe Colleges and UNiversities operating here a mixed bag. Some, I think, are trying to crank out capable graduates. In my experience, for every qualified graduate with the skills (Acedemic AND Social) to succeed there are ten who are lacking both.
Many merely attended a sort of diploma mill that covered useing MS word, Excel spreadsheets and to memorise some basic rules of merketing and accounting. Viola! A diploma in Business management!
The poor kids worked really hard, but can't even prepare a C.V. or implement a simple project.
That said, one of the worst C.V's I ever saw came from a MBA Graduate at SQU, supposedly the countries finest educational institution.
And I know I shouldn't criticize anybody's level of education because I can't spell or do math. Pot? Kettle calling!
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