The Main Challenges Facing HEAC Admission System in Oman Ministry of Higher Education Higher Education Admission Center (HEAC) The Main Challenges Facing HEAC Admission System in Oman The 6th IAAO Conference 4-5 May 2016 Croatia Yahya Salam Al Mandhari DG of HEAC Oman

2 Administrative and Operational Challenges: First: Delay of announcing the final results of General Education Diploma (GED), and no fixed date for the announcement: - HEAC receives the final exam results from the Ministry of Education (MoE) between the 10th and 17th of July every year. First Allocation Round   Procedures and Phases Date Making changes in program preferences and personal information Two weeks after announcement of final examinations results Announcement of the results of first allocation round 4thof August Students acceptance of offers 4thto 11th of August (8 days) Students registration at the HEIs 4th to 23rd of August (20days) 2

3 Administrative and Operational Challenges: First: Delay of announcing the final results of General Education Diploma (GED), and no fixed date for the announcement: (cont.) Admission interviews/ tests   Procedures and Phases Date Announcement of candidates to sit for admission tests, interviews and medical checks 4th of August Announcement of candidates who passed admission tests, interviews and medical checks 20th of August Period for accepting offers of programs requiring admission tests and interviews 20th to 23rd of August Registration at the HEIs for programs requiring admission tests and interviews 21st -23rd of August 3

4 Administrative and Operational Challenges: First: Delay of announcing the final results of General Education Diploma (GED), and no fixed date for the announcement: (cont.) Second allocation round   Procedures and Phases Date Announcement of new and vacant programs (if available) 28th of August Applying for new and/or vacant programs 28th of August – 1st of September Announcement of second allocation results 5th of September Accepting offers of the second allocation 5th to 8th of September Students completing registration procedures at the HEIs 5th to 10th of September 4

5 Administrative and Operational Challenges: First: Delay of announcing the final results of General Education Diploma (GED), and no fixed date for the announcement: (cont.) Based on what is mentioned previously, the delay in announcing GED students’ results may result in the following: Late announcement of the first allocation round offers, consequently delay in the announcement of the subsequent allocations. Delay in the student’s enrollment at the HEIs in Oman and abroad. Loss of external grants and scholarships that have strict registration deadlines which expire before the first allocation round. Some HEIs do not accept students after certain dates of starting their academic year. 5

6 Administrative and Operational Challenges: Second: Adding new programs and changing in the academic programs’ requirements of the HEIs after publishing the Student Guidebook causes. Delay in reviewing data input. Increase the number of running electronic allocations. Delay of raising awareness among students. Commitment of staff to work after working office hours, in order to announce allocations’ results in due date. 6

7 (2) Technical Challenges: First: Continuous technical support needed during registration periods During all the mentioned phases, the registration services remain available 24 hours 7 days a week, via 3 electronic means: HEAC website, SMS service, and mobile application. Providing such electronic services requires a continuous technical support, and therefore, the availability of employees to provide this support during the registration periods after working hours. This will definitely be an overload on employees, as HEAC is deficient in human resources. 7

8 (2) Technical Challenges: Second: Running different electronic allocations, leads to more efforts and hard work. These allocations are: The first allocation. The second allocation: due to vacant seats and new programs available after the first allocation. Allocations of seats for applicants who sit for certificates which results are released late such as: foreign and international qualifications (A Level), and students who re-sit the GED final examinations. 8

Thank you 9