Edubeanz

Muscat: AMIDEAST administers the Fulbright Foreign Student Program for the Middle East and North Africa on behalf of the US Department of States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. This highly prestigious scholarship program is a two-year fellowship, designed to give graduates of four-year Bachelors degree or Masters degree programs the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree at a US university. AMIDEAST is a leading American non-profit organization engaged in international education, training and development activities in the Middle East and North Africa. Founded in 1951, AMIDEAST in its early years focused on promoting U.S. study to students in the MENA region and managing U.S. scholarships and exchanges such as the flagship Fulbright Foreign Student Program. While these important programs continue apace, our work has expanded significantly. Today AMIDEAST programs and services touch the lives of half a million individuals a year – improving educational opportunities and qu...

Muscat: Dr. Issa Sabeel Al Bulushi, CEO, Gulf College, has chosen to receive the prestigious Education Leadership Award of the World Education Congress (WEC). This is first time this International award goes to Oman and Dr. Issa gets a special mark in Oman history. Award will be presented to Dr. Issa this June in Mumbai, India.  The WEC, held last year in Dubai and in London next year, aims to encourage partnership among institutions and to build on a vision and strategies for Higher Education Institutions coupled with the influence on evolving culture and deep systematic change in education, all of which are rolled into one as intrinsic.   WEC’s Chairman Mr. Smith disclosed in an email message, “Dr. Issa’s visionary leadership and progressive contribution to the field of education is well-known and his strategic and iconic positions he occupies made him a champion . With this, one could proudly say that Omanis have sustained a deep sense of pride fo...

The University of Portsmouth has signed a contract to train military engineers in Oman. The government-funded college expects to enrol 1,000 students in September, and up to 4,200 students will be trained in total, the university said. Earlier In April, the Portsmouth university authorities announced that it had won a “prestigious contract” to help develop four military engineering degrees for Oman’s Military Technological College. But a campaign group from UK has criticized the move from the Portsmouth University. A UK-based organization, Campaign Against Arms Trade, warned that the deal would enable “internal repression”. A spokeswoman from the Campaign Against Arms Trade said that the military engineers would be “using, supporting and maintaining” the country’s weapons - including warships, fighter jets and small arms sold to Oman by the UK.  But, Djamel Ait-Boudaoud, dean of Portsmouth’s faculty of technology, out rightly rejected this criticism and explained that Oman was...

Engineers in action More UAE nationals need to be encouraged into engineering and technology careers, as there are not enough qualified locals to fill the jobs available, say some of the region’s employers. Emerson India, Middle East and Africa Human Resources corporate vice-president William Kofahl said the biggest challenge for the global manufacturing and technology company was finding entry-level engineers and technicians in the region. Emerson, which has about 130,000 employees worldwide across a range of areas including process automation, plant optimisation, telecommunications infrastructure and climate control, has more than 1,000 employees in the Middle East, with the majority based in Dubai. About 20 per cent of Middle East employees were Arab, he said. “(But) we often struggle to find local candidates who are interested in entry-level technical or engineering positions. At the opposite end of the scale, we sometimes struggle to find extremely specialised or very experie...