MUSCAT -- The Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA) has published the quality audit report of the Oman Medical College (OMC) on OAAA website (www.oac.gov.om) today. This is the 10th quality audit report to be published. Quality audit is the first stage in Oman's cyclical two-stage process for institutional accreditation. The purpose of quality audit is to provide both a level of assurance to the public and constructive feedback to the higher education institutions (HEIs) for the purpose of ongoing improvement.
The process began with the OMC undertaking a self-study covering nine key areas of their activities, including areas such as governance and management, student learning by coursework programmes, academic support services and student support services. This self-study resulted in the production of a portfolio which was submitted in February 2009. To conduct the audit a review panel of eminent experts was convened, selected from the OAAA's register of approved local and international external reviewers. The panel was chaired by Dr J F Thomas from Middle East College of Information Technology, and included Dr Huda Mohammed from Ibra Nursing Institute, Dr John B Lee from JBL Associates Inc, USA, Prof Ruth Grant Independent Consultant Australia, and Prof Peter Brooks from The University of Queensland, Australia. The Executive Officer for the audit was Prof Debbie Clayton.
Prior to visiting OMC, the panel met formally in April 2009 to report on their preliminary findings following examination of the portfolio and supporting materials submitted by OMC. The audit visit took place over June 7-10, 2009 during which time the panel spoke with approximately 160 people, including governing authorities and management, staff, students and external stakeholders. The audit report contains a summary of the panel's findings, together with formal commendations where good practices have been confirmed, affirmations where OMC's ongoing quality improvement efforts merit support, and recommendations where there are significant opportunities for improvement not yet being adequately addressed.
The report aims to provide a balanced set of observations, but does not comment on every issue or system in place at OMC. Before being made public, a copy of the report was sent to OMC for their feedback. OMC is expected to utilise the feedback in the audit report as part of its continuous efforts to provide the best possible education to students. Audit reports are also of interest to students and potential students, their families, employers, government, other higher education institutions in Oman and abroad and other audiences. However, prospective students should still undertake their own investigations when deciding which higher education institution will best serve their particular learning needs.
A quality audit does not result in a pass or fail; nor does it provide any sort of grade or score. The OAAA emphasises that the precise number of commendations, affirmations and recommendations that an institution receives in its audit report is not as important as the substance of those conclusions. The OAAA, established by Royal Decree No 54/2010, is Oman's national body responsible for the external quality assurance and quality enhancement of all public and private sector higher education institutions (HEIs) and programmes in Oman.
By Staff Reporter
© Oman Daily Observer 2010
