The political economy of internationalization and privatization of higher education in the Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

This chapter outlines Oman’s higher education policy under the guidance of Sultan Qaboos by addressing the following main objectives: describing the origins of Oman’s government-funded higher education system since the late 1970s, assessing the rationales of Oman’s fundamental redesign of its higher education policy since the early 1990s, and, finally, describing the process and the effects of the economic liberalization of higher education, by analysing the emerging models of cooperation providing cross-border educational services. Oman is adopting primarily Western educational concepts in accordance with a liberal economic development strategy. However, Oman’s recent higher education policy also sets offin a new direction, as it differs from other contemporary policies in the Gulf region. It is a local exception within the postmodern higher education landscape of the Arabian Peninsula as it integrates international and local education paradigms and juggles market-and publicly-driven initiatives.