Sunday 08 / September / 2024
Muscat: The programmes and specialisations offered through local and international scholarships to holders of the General Education Diploma (GED) and its equivalents during academic year 2024/2025 will cover all fields of knowledge, said the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
The Ministry added that the programmes are envisaged to meet student expectations and respond to the actual needs of the development sectors.
Hamad Khalfan Al Harthy, Assistant Director General for Scholarship Affairs at the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, said that the Ministry was keen to give students more flexibility and wider scopes for choosing their desired specializations, educational institutions and countries of study.
Al Harthy pointed out that the scholarships comprise two packages: STEM and ESAM. He explained that STEM scholarships are offered to science stream students and it covers scientific specializations (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), but not medicine, veterinary medicine or dentistry.
On the other hand, ESAM scholarships are offered to arts stream students and they cover specialisations in the fields of education, social sciences, arts and management.
Al Harthy said that neither of the two packages comprises programmes that lead to any degree beyond the Bachelor’s degree. He advised aspirants to consult the HEAC Guide (issued by the Higher Education Admission Centre) for more information.
Acting in cooperation with the "Medical City for Military and Security Services", the Ministry released 14 on-the-job training and employment-linked programmes in the fields of human medicine, dentistry, specialized nursing and associated medical specialties, said Al Harthy, noting that successful students will then be sent for further study in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
He added that this year, the Ministry focused on offering specializations that are compatible with the accelerated pace of 4IR technologies (Fourth Industrial Revolution), most notably cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (IR), data science, cyber forensics, computer science for smart devices, IR-based business analysis and business analysis.
Al Harthy affirmed that many private higher education institutions provide scholarships towards the Bachelor’s degree, with the volume of such scholarships being equivalent to 10 percent of seats allocated to the institutions.
In this context, Al Harthy said that Petroleum Development Oman company provided BA scholarships for students who belong to concession areas in many specializations. In the meantime, OMIFCO also offered scholarships for children who belong to the Social Security Scheme and those who belong to limited income families from the North and South A’Sharqiyah Governorates.
