Ministry plans to attract foreign investments in higher education

Muscat: The government is working to make the investment environment attractive to foreign investments in higher education  sector, Dr Bakhit bin Ahmed Al Mahri, Undersecretary for Higher Education at the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, said  on Saturday.

This is as a part of the ministry’s belief that private higher education establishments play in development and increasing opportunities for admission to higher education institutions for various sectors of the society.

Aspects of support offered to private higher education establishments comprised offering them with land plots along with granting private universities fifty per cent of their paid-up capital and maximum OMR3 million coupled with tax and customs exemption besides admission of a big number of students in such establishments, he said.

Private higher education establishments were also provided with the opportunity to initiate some investments and commercial activities in the land offered to them at 15 per cent of the area allocated for the higher education establishment in order to establish service projects supportive to educational process, he said.

All such facilities and incentives have contributed to upgrade the quality of education and services offered. Private higher education establishments were allowed to increase their study fee by two per cent annually on submission of a grounded application subjected to consideration as per the criteria set to this end, he added.