In line with its Mission, the OAAAQA aims to encourage the higher education sector to meet international standards and is responsible for implementing a transparent and rigourous system for institutional and programme accreditation. Institutional accreditation is a two-stage process; Quality Audit followed by Standards Assessment. The OAAAQA brings together an independent panel of external reviewers to undertake these activities. Both activities involve a consideration of all a higher education institution (HEI)’s activities including teaching, administrative and other activities. The OAAAQA also carries out Quality Audits of General Foundation Programmes.
As part of its deliberations, the Panel invites submissions from the public. Submissions may cover any issue relevant to the Quality Audit or Standards Assessment, whether highlighting areas of good practice or other issues. A submission will be received by the Panel only under the following conditions:
- It must be sent by email to the Review Director within the dates specified for the call for public submissions (see table above).
- It must include the name, position, organisation (HEI, workplace etc.) and contact details of the person/s making the submission. This information will be treated in confidence. Anonymous submissions will not be considered by the Panel under any circumstances.
- The person/s making the submission must be willing to participate in a telephone interview should the Panel consider such a discussion to be necessary.
- The submission should address aspects of the HEI’s activities or programmes that will assist the Panel in forming conclusions about their quality. It should contain specific evidence for any claims being made. Vague statements or allegations will not be pursued by the Panel.
- The submission should not refer to personal grievances or single out individual members of staff (the Panel has no mandate to address grievances).
- The submission (excluding any particular corroborating evidence) should be no more than 1,000 words (two sides of an A4 page) in length.
- All submissions are confidential in the sense that the Panel needs to be able to use the information provided in submissions, but will not reveal their source. If the Panel chooses to investigate, it will be only as part of the overall Quality Audit or Standards Assessment process, and not in terms of the details of a particular issue. The Panel will not make any response or report to the person(s) making the submission other than to acknowledge receipt.
- For further information about the Institutional Quality Audit process please click here to see the Quality Audit Manual
- For further information about the Standards Assessment process, please click here to see the Institutional Standards Assessment Manual.
- For further information about the GFP Quality Audit process please click here
- For more general enquiries about the OAAAQA external quality assurance activities, contact Mr Yousuf Al Oufi yousuf@oaaa.gov.om