The idea of a centralized admission was proposed by the Ministry of Higher Education(MOHE) in a report sent to The Higher Education Council, a highly authoritive body, which plays a pivotal role in the decision-making on education. The report suggested simplifying the procedures of applying for admission to higher education institutions (HEIs) by having a centralised e-system which avails the application services at times and in ways that are more convenient to the applicants with a minimal amount of paperwork. A working group from MOHE was formed immediately after receiving the approval from The Higher Education Council and visits were arranged to some countries which have student’s admission systems like Jordan, England, Ireland, and Iran to know their experience in this field. The working group, after these visits, developed a draft on a higher education admission centers roles and procedures which was the guide line for the preparation of an electronic system to deal with the requirements and needs of the Omani society.
Each higher education institute (HEI) in Oman had an admission center with its employees and admissions requirements. Every year, after the final results of the secondary school examination were announced, thousands of students and their parents had to travel long distances to apply for a seat in a certain program of study in a government higher education institute by filling an application form and submitting their hard copy of the original General Secondary School Examination Transcript (GSSET).The idea behind submitting the original GSSET was to limit each eligible student to one offer ,since a student was given an offer for a program in an institute and he accepted the offer then the Institute would retain the GSSET. What was more frustrating for the students and their parents was that students could not apply for more than one institution at one time and had to wait several days for their application results from the institution. Those students who were not accepted in one institution had to withdraw their documents including the original GSSET and go and apply to another institution and submit the required documents including the original GSSET and wait! It was not an easy job at all. Most Omani students, if not all, applied in this manner to government higher education program seats because studying at government institutes was free and all students’ tuition fees and other expenses were paid by the government.
The Higher education Institutes also suffered from the same process. Employees at the admission center in these institutions had to receive thousands of applications, process them and declare the results and distribute the accepted students over programs according to each program pre assigned number of seats, all of this was done in a limited period of time. This process put employees in each and every institution under severe stress!
The employees at The Ministry of Education also suffered from the admission process since every student who passed The Secondary School Examination was required to get a hard copy of his GSSET to be able to apply to the government higher education institutes. So there were long queues of students at The Ministry of Education waiting to receive their hard copy of their GSSET after the results of The Secondary School Examination results were released.
To help thousands of Omani students inside and outside Oman to apply for scholarships and grants in government universities and colleges in addition to help students of different nationalities to apply for seats in private HEIs.
To unify all admission procedures in all colleges and universities into one application so the students can fill only one online application.
To enable students to view all needed information and requirements for each HEI and their programs without the need to travel to HEIs one after the other to submit their application.
To save time through an online application since there will be no waiting for application results from each individual HEI.
To enable applicants to apply before they sit for their final General Certificate Examinations. The reason for this is that they would be better able to make suitable choices at a time when there is less pressure and when more people will be available to advise and assist them.
To ensure that all applicants are treated equally and fairly in a highly transparent process.
A local IT company started programming the proposed electronic system at the beginning of 2005 after receiving the system requirements documented by HEAC staff. The HEAC e-system was launched on the first of April 2006 under the auspices of the Minister of Manpower and attended by other ministers, undersecretaries, and staff of all concerned ministries, representatives of higher education institutes, and many students and parents.
A Royal Decree (N0.104/2006) was issued establishing HEAC followed by a Ministerial Decision for the formation of a foundation committee for the HEAC to lay down all the necessary steps and actions towards establishing a transparent admission system which deals with applications in a just and fair way.
To carry out the objectives of HEAC, the foundation committee invited local IT companies to submit proposal to develop an e-system where its requirements were clearly documented and distributed to the interested IT companies.
Finally the foundation committee studied the offers and selected an IT company whose proposal was based on the best practices in the field using Oracle technologies. The chosen company programmed the HEAC requirements under the close supervision of the HEAC experts and technical employees. The system was found to be a great success when it started for the first time in the academic year 2006/2007 and was accepted by all the stakeholders' i.e. The students and their parents, all the universities and colleges, The Ministry of Education, and the Scholarship Department at The Ministry of Higher Education.
The results of HEAC system implementation can be briefly mentioned as follows:
Social:
Equity for all students in a transparent application process
Students register through the HEAC system and submit their applications from anywhere in Oman or abroad through different mechanisms, including SMS text messages, for convenient communication
Students have the opportunity to apply before and after they receive their exam results which give them more time to decide on what is the best suitable program for them.
Increases the number of disadvantage students, from rural areas, to get scholarships especially female.
Administrative:
The HEAC system:
Eliminates queues for submitting applications at registration offices in different HEIs.
Reduces administrative practices and paper work for HEI registration staff.
Provides accurate and immediate information.
Creates an opportunity to compare student enrolment intakes among the HEIs; and provides other accurate statistics which was difficult to get.
Psychological:
Provides information on HEI programs in one document, to raise students’ confidence in their choices.
Provides students a friendly environment in which to select their programs in HEIs by using the Internet and SMS systems.
Gives students the opportunity to choose their HEI programs both before and after they receive their exam results, thereby providing them adequate time to consult teachers, friends and parents.
Economic:
Reduces transportation and travelling costs for students in repeatedly travelling to apply and register at different HEIs.
Reduces the number of committees and staff required during the application and registration period at all HEIs.
Saves time for students and parents during the application and registration periods at HEIs.
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