"The process of enrolling on line or even through Short Message Service (SMS) has already begun and the response has been tremendous," Khalid Al Zedjali, Deputy Director General for Higher Education Admissions Centre (HEAC) at the Higher Education Ministry, told Gulf News yesterday.
"Thousands of students are taking the e-admission route to secure a seat in a higher education institution of their choice in the country," he said, adding that the ministry would be able to place over 14,000 students in higher education institutes in the public sector.
He said over 3,000 would be accommodated through the centralised admission system in private colleges in the country.
Al Zedjali said the e-admission system introduced by the Higher Education Ministry here was the first of its kind in the Middle East. "It is unique compared to similar e-systems elsewhere in the world," the official said.
According to him, the new system has been welcomed by students as they can now avoid travelling from far-flung places to Muscat just to fill in admission forms and present documents.
Secured data
"We have secured data from education ministry on students passing out of Grade 12 this year so when they apply we just have to match with it and give them ranks for admissions," he said.
He said some 60,000 students appear for secondary school certificate examination, and the public sector institutions offer just about 14,000 seats.
"The private sector colleges in the country can absorb another 20,000, but then the question of affordability comes into question," he said.
The ministry has also set up computer labs at 500 local centres throughout the country where trained staff help students apply online. "Students can also apply by SMS Omantel's dedicated number 90190," said Al Zedjali.
"The HEAC system, one of the first of its kind in the world, is fully automated and completely user-friendly," claimed Al Zedjali.
Dr Saeed Al Adawi, Director General of the Higher Education Admissions Centre, said with some 60,000 students graduating from Grade 12 this year alone, the aim is "to build a 'culture of e-admission' in every school. Staff is being trained to help students seeking e-access to higher education services," he said.
He said non-Omanis living outside the country can also use the HEAC website to apply for seats in the private HEIs in Oman.
Have your say
Do you think this is a progressive way of incorporating e-governance into people’s lives? Should other GCC countries follow suit? Should Oman have waited for greater internet penetration before launching this initiative? Do you know anybody who has used this system? How was their experience? Tell us at Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Sunil K. Vaidya
Quelle/Source: Gulf News, 28.08.2007
