Sustainable Development at Universities in the Sultanate of Oman: The Interesting Case of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU)

Author(s):  
Sadiq Hussain ◽  
Thuwayba Al Barwani
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 184
Author(s):  
Fatma Alkaaf ◽  
Durayra AlMaqbali ◽  
Yousra Al-Sinani

This study aims to identify the acquisition of linguistic competencies by pre-service physical education teachers at the College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, and in-service physical education teachers in Muscat and Dhofar Governorates in Oman, as well as any statistical differences between these two groups. The population of the study consisted of 30 pre-service teachers and 28 in-service teachers. The observation card instrument was used to collect data. The results showed that the acquisition level of the linguistic competencies of pre-service physical education teachers was medium. However, the acquisition level of the linguistic competencies of in-service physical education teachers was high. Furthermore, there were significant differences between the acquisition level of linguistic competencies in pre-service and in-service teachers in favor of in-service teachers. Based on these findings, we recommend developing these competencies in pre-service teachers during the teacher education program by focusing particularly on planning, implementation, and assessment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-166
Author(s):  
ŁUKASZ RĄB ◽  
KAROLINA KETTLER

The current coronavirus pandemic is not only a health/healthcare crisis but to a vast extent it will also influence other spheres of life, including social relations, the shape of economy and working models, and natural environment. Sustainable development that relies on the previously mentioned pillars (economy, society, environment) is going to be strongly affected by the virus outbreak. There is a threat that the process of recovering from the corona crisis will accelerate and legitimize the dynamics of surveillance capitalism. A really interesting case is going to be the labor world, where thanks to modern technologies, suppression of personal freedoms and triumph of total surveillance might be particularly easy. However, good scenarios are also plausible. The first 21st century pandemic of that scale may force societies to redefine their current modus operandi and shift capitalism into a more sustainable, humanistic model.


Author(s):  
Ali Al-Issa

Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) has been the sole English Language Teaching (ELT) research enterprise in the Sultanate of Oman through the Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Curriculum and Methods of Teaching English degree program it launched in the early 1990s. Eighty-two theses have been completed so far about topics pertinent to ELT in the Sultanate of Oman. However, a review of those theses has shown that the discussion of these topics lacks a critical dimension that can advance Omani ELT at the micro and macro levels. This critical qualitative study, therefore, sets out to make a case for new directions in ELT research at the M.Ed. in ELT program at SQU. The discussion should lead to better understanding of the multiple ELT problems in the Sultanate of Oman and have implications for other similar contexts.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-41
Author(s):  
Khalid Mohammed Al-Balushi

In this paper, I argue that English could be of more relevance to the Arabian Gulf if we conceptualized it as an educational forum for familiarizing students with socio-linguistic conventions relating to a wide variety of text types and for sharpening their critical awareness of the political implications of the uses of English. I make my case against the backdrop of a particular local context in the Arabian Gulf: the current BA programme in English at the College of Arts and Social Science, Sultan Qaboos University, the Sultanate of Oman. I maintain that the programme is predicated upon conceiving of English as a field (or rather fields) of knowledge, as academic disciplines of English literature, linguistics and translation, each with its own sets of concepts and frames of reference. As such, the programme both falls short of being fully theoretically coherent and fails to take into account the recent educational developments in Oman. Drawing upon the theoretical construct of discourse, I propose an outline of an alternative BA programme in English that revolves around the uses of English and their political implications.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
NASSER S. AL-JAHWARI ◽  
PAUL A. YULE ◽  
KHALED A. DOUGLAS ◽  
BERNHARD PRACEJUS ◽  
MOHAMMED A. AL-BELUSHI ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7800
Author(s):  
David Horan

This article addresses policy coherence for sustainable development demonstrating the important role that dashboards of interlinked indicators can play as tools to coordinate interrelated government ministries for integrated policymaking at national level. Specifically, a monitoring and coordination tool is proposed based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators and mappings of SDG responsibilities across ministries. Drawing on studies in sustainability science of SDG interlinkages, the article presents a five-step procedure that government departments can use to construct indicator sets from official SDG indicators to support integrated policymaking for a specific sector. I apply the method to Ireland’s marine sector. Ireland is an interesting case because although many countries report mapping SDG responsibilities across ministries, Ireland’s Voluntary National Review explicitly maps these responsibilities for all 17 SDGs and 169 targets. Using performance gap analysis, concrete recommendations are developed for the lead department of the marine along three dimensions: which departments to cooperate with, on what policy areas discussions should focus, and how Ireland performs in each area compared to a selection of peer countries. In particular, the article recommends cooperation with nine other departments on fifteen policy issues. Relative to peers, Ireland is ranked amongst sustainability “leaders” on three of these issues and amongst “laggards” on nine issues. The proposed procedure, which has wide application (to other countries and sectors) as a starting point for integrated policymaking, can help to raise awareness among policymakers of outcomes in linked policy areas and enable dialogue between ministries on coherent policies to address interrelated gaps in sustainability.


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