Expat with suspicious degree quits job, leaves Oman

Energy Thursday 22/August/2019 09:17 AM
By: Times News Service
Expat with suspicious degree quits job, leaves Oman

Muscat: An expatriate employee has left Oman after his degree’s legitimacy was questioned by users on social media.

The company had earlier said in a response to these questions that it would investigate his degree, then followed up by saying that the expat had left the country and that the job was now open for Omanis only.

When a user on social media had asked the company whether it was sure the employee’s degree was legitimate, the original response from the company had read: “Thank you for your interest in this matter, the concerned section at the company knows of the issue and will do what needs to be done with regards to the employee.”

Yesterday, the company added: “We would like to make it clear that the aforementioned employee has left Oman and that his job is now vacant and advertised to Omanis only.

“The position is: Construction Manager. Thank you,” the statement by the company added.

The employee had worked as a Construction Manager at the company, and had listed under his qualifications an MBA from Newport University of California.

Newport University in California is not listed under the Ministry of Higher Education’s list of recommended universities to study in.

In the USA, Newport University in California had previously been approved to operate a ‘Private Postsecondary Education’ curriculum, but it had not been accredited in the USA by a higher education body, and in 2017 the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education wrote to the university: “Bureau records indicate that you obtained an approval to operate from the Bureau on or Before January 1, 2015, and that you are operating an approved, unaccredited institution that offers one or more degree programmes.

“...your institution was required to submit evidence of having achieved accreditation candidacy or pre-accreditation by July 1, 2017 but failed to do so, despite being notified on May 4, 2017 of this requirement and the risk of automatic suspension,” the notice added.

The University in question does not appear in the Ministry of Higher Education's lists for recommended universities in the United States, nor the list of universities approved for remote education.