Oman ranks first in GDP share of education sector among GCC

Muscat: Oman ranks first among Gulf countries in terms of contribution of the education sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Development Indicators for 2019 have revealed.

The Ministry of Higher Education said in a statement, "According to the GCC Development Indicators 2019, the Sultanate ranks first among the Gulf Countries in the contribution of the education sector to GDP with 6.5 per cent followed by Al Kuwait with 6.2 per cent, and Al Bahrain comes in third place with 4.9 per cent."

The report also revealed that Oman ranked fourth in the index of higher education among 126 countries around the world while the United Arab Emirates came in at ninth place, Qatar was tenth on the list, Saudi Arabia ranked 39th, Bahrain ranked 50th and Kuwait ranked 79th globally.

In the index of the most prominent achievements of universities affiliated to the higher education institutions of the GCC countries in 2018 and 2019, the report stated that Sultan Qaboos University ranked second in the Arab world in terms of the ratio of academic staff in 2018.

The Sultanate of Oman also ranked third among Gulf countries in the rate of enrollment in Higher Education Institutions in a study involving the total eligible population carried out between 2012 and 2017.