Latest news with #HEAC
Observer
03-06-2025
- General
- Observer
More than 51,000 students register in HEAC
MUSCAT: As many as 51,027 students were registered in the Higher Education Admission Center (HEAC) at the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. The number included 25,706 males and 25,321 females. The figures reflect the number of students who applied to the HEAC to contest seats in government higher education institutions, internal scholarships, private sector grants, external scholarships and grants from Arab countries for the academic year 2025/2026. The applicants will be given an opportunity to change their study preferences during a "Choice Modification" period that follows the announcement of results of the General Education Diploma (GED) exams in July 2025. The Higher Education Admission Center announced that the outcome of the first sorting will be made public during the first week of July 2025. These results are based on students' performance in the first semester and their current placing of the programmes of their preference. The aim is to enable the students to amend their choices and make the most appropriate decision in consultation with their parents. The "Choice Modification" period plays a significant role in a student's admission, because registration during this stage becomes final ahead of the 'First Round Sorting'. This stage is followed by procedures like personal interviews, admission tests and medical tests, in accordance with the requirements of the academic programmes. - ONA
Times of Oman
03-06-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
More Than 51,000 students registered at Higher Education Admission Centre
Muscat: As many as 51,027 students were registered in the Higher Education Admission Center (HEAC) at the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. The number included 25,706 males and 25,321 females. The figures reflect the number of students who applied to the HEAC until the end of the first stage of registration for students to contest seats in government higher education institutions, internal scholarships, private sector grants, external scholarships and grants from Arab countries for the academic year 2025/2026. The applicants will be given an opportunity to change their study preferences during a 'Choice Modification' period that follows the announcement of results of the General Education Diploma (GED) exams in July 2025. The Higher Education Admission Center announced that the outcome of the first sorting will be made public during the first week of July 2025. These results are based on students' performance in the first semester and their current placing of the programmes of their preference. The aim is to enable the students to amend their choices and make the most appropriate decision in consultation with their parents. The 'Choice Modification' period plays a significant role in a student's admission, because registration during this stage becomes final ahead of the 'First Round Sorting'. This stage is followed by procedures like personal interviews, admission tests and medical tests, in accordance with the requirements of the academic programmes. -ONA
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Home educators fight to keep advisory council
Home educators defend survival of advisory council Jennifer Wright, center inset and a home educator, spoke Tuesday against the idea of getting rid of the Home Education Advisory Council. Many home education advocates turned out Tuesday to oppose what one called an 'ambush' amendment to eliminate the 14-member Home Education Advisory Council (HEAC). 'You want home educators to get on board, sit down and shut up,' said Katherine Abbott of Portsmouth in defending the council's work. Rep. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro, argued that after 35 years of advocacy, leaders have gotten sidetracked, and the group has become dysfunctional. Several HEAC members have become critical of Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs), taxpayer-subsidized scholarships for parents to send their children to private, religious, alternative public or home school programs, he said. 'HEAC has lost its way and deviated from its role per law and rule and is not adhering to its responsibility to provide support to home educators,' Cordelli said. Cordelli proposed his amendment to an unrelated bill (HB 57) to study whether the state should reduce the number of supervisory administrative units (SAUs) in New Hampshire. Several members of the HEAC said the creation of EFAs in 2021 has threatened to dilute the independent nature of home education by having families accept public funding. Many home educators believe accepting EFA money gives the state more control over their instruction. Amanda Weeden with Granite State Home Educators said the council since September has raised issues with Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut about the freedom of their movement. 'The optics of this non-germane amendment being snuck in, it is an ambush,' said Weeden. 'The (EFA) school choice movement is late to the party. We are the original school choicers.' Group began as a way to advise DOE on the topic The Legislature created HEAC in 1990 as a forum to give advice to the education commissioner on home education. 'Without this council, this valuable line of communication would be lost,' said Jennifer Pereira, who served on the council for eight years. Dianne Nolin, a member of HEAC, noted Gov. Kelly Ayotte has already announced that she will name a new education commissioner at the end of this school year when Edelblut will move on after eight years on the job. 'Through periods of change we need the experience of those who do the work every day,' Nolin said. Several opponents of Cordelli's idea called on the Legislature to get rid of agency rules that along with state law govern home education practices. 'This is an important liaison for us,' said Jennifer Wright, a home educating mom. 'Are there things that could be fixed? Absolutely. This has been going on since I was born. I think eliminating it would be really short-sighted.' Cordelli had said other advocacy groups such as the New Hampshire Home Educators Association founded in 1983 could take the place of HEAC and be more focused on the mission. But after nearly every speaker opposed Cordelli's idea, Cordelli told the House Education Policy and Administration Committee he chairs that he would drop the idea, meet with advocates and perhaps pursue cooperative legislation in the future. 'We can give HEAC a little more time,' Cordelli summed up. 'I am hopeful that the tone of discussion between traditional home educators and EFA families who are primarily home schooling will improve, that the rhetoric calms down.' What's Next: The full House early next month will vote on the SAU study bill without the home education issue in it. Prospects: Lawmakers never run short of ideas for study committees and this one too is likely to make it to the finish line. klandrigan@
Observer
13-04-2025
- Health
- Observer
535 programmes await students for 2025-2026
MUSCAT: The first phase of registration for admission into public higher education institutions, as well as internal and external scholarships for the 2025-2026 academic year, has officially opened and will remain open until June 1, 2025. Students who have completed their General Education Diploma (or its equivalent) for the academic year 2024-2025 can now register online via the Higher Education Admission Centre's (HEAC) portal at Here, they can explore the wide variety of academic programmes available and select their preferred specialisations. In an effort to improve the student experience and ensure equitable access to higher education opportunities, HEAC has introduced several updates. Ahmed bin Mohammed al Azri, Director-General of HEAC, outlined some key changes, including a streamlined registration interface. The new 'View and Select Eligible Programmes' feature merges two previous screens, simplifying the process and making it easier for students to explore all the programmes they are eligible for, while also allowing them to sequence their preferences. There have also been modifications to the admission process at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences (UTAS), particularly for the Muscat, Nizwa, and Al Musayfirah branches. Now, students residing in respective governorates can access local programmes, bringing higher education opportunities closer to home. A new personal interview requirement has been introduced for students applying to education-related programmes at UTAS, while the maximum age for admission to the Military Technological College has been raised to 23 years for those seeking academic programmes. This year, HEAC is also focusing on inclusivity, with special initiatives aimed at supporting students with disabilities. A number of seats have been allocated at the Oman College of Health Sciences for students with physical disabilities, specifically in the Health Information Management specialisation. Additionally, a new programme for students with learning difficulties is available, as long as their specific learning challenges are officially recognised by the institution. Among the 535 programmes being offered across various government and private institutions, students can choose from a broad spectrum of disciplines, including health sciences, natural and physical sciences, engineering, business management and more. Scholarships and grants are available to help students finance their education. To help students make informed decisions, HEAC will soon release a Competitive Admission Guide that offers suggested minimum scores for different academic programmes, enabling students to assess their chances of acceptance more realistically. Furthermore, HEAC is running a series of awareness sessions for career guidance specialists from all governorates of Oman, designed to update them on the new admission process and address any challenges from previous years. The centre is also actively sharing information through its social media channels and engaging with participants at the GHEDEX 2025 (Global Higher Education and Training Exhibition). Students and their families are encouraged to thoroughly review the Student Guide for Enrolment to ensure they understand the registration policies and make informed decisions regarding their academic futures.
Observer
26-02-2025
- General
- Observer
Choose your higher education courses wisely
'We always advise our students to make the most of this opportunity by making informed choices prior to and during their higher studies that rely on facts and research, rather than hearsay and unfiltered sources,' Dr Rawya al Busaidy once told me in an interview during which we spoke about education, scholarships, and seats. From my perspective, this useful advice aligned with the philosophy behind the national Your Decision, Your Future (YDYF) Campaign. I first learned about this wonderful government initiative in 2009. The YDYF Campaign was specifically designed to steer Omani school students in grades 10 to 12 and years 11 to 13 towards making well-informed higher education and career choices based on realistic expectations and best suited to their interests, capabilities and career aspirations. In 2009, it aimed to achieve its objectives through various special projects and initiatives, including targeted school and event visits, meetings with career counsellors, tailored presentations, and the broader reach of media. Unfortunately, the campaign stopped running for several years at some point, partly because most civil servants had to spend a lot of time on this initiative on top of their regular workload. Besides, back then, most, if not all, Omani students already had access to a career counsellor at school who assisted them in making informed career choices and/or applying to higher education institutions, while they also had access to the informative Daleel al Talib (student guide) published by the efficient Higher Education Admissions Centre (HEAC), When I started working for the Directorate-General of Scholarships in 2012, and based on all the repetitive questions we used to receive from students and their advisors, I noticed gaps in the effectiveness of information. Although students, their counsellors and parents had access to growing amounts of important data, it seemed they needed more support to make sense of all what they were reading and hearing. There is and always will be a need to support Omani students in making informed higher education choices To provide some context: It is important to remember that scholarship regulations held, and probably still hold, students accountable for their choices, while sometimes scholarship recipients did find themselves in programmes that turned out to be not well-suited to their talents and interests. Inspired by the philosophy behind the YDYF Campaign and the fact that it is not easy for students to choose what they want to study and wisely apply for undergraduate scholarships, I requested the ministry for approval to produce an externally sponsored, not-for-profit initiative in 2015. The idea was to circulate contextualised and comprehensive content to prospective undergraduate scholarship applicants by creating a one-stop, easy-to-read and trustworthy resource in English and Arabic. Sponsored by localised content provided by higher education institutions abroad and in Oman, YDYF Magazine consisted of a body of text and visuals that broke down complex education and scholarship jargon; and expert views into simple and effective sentences. We ended up publishing the magazine for five consecutive years and received positive feedback, especially from parents. In 2019, I even tried hard to turn the popular publication into a digital website application, but the pandemic led to a failure. I am writing about these past initiatives because there is and always will be a need to support Omani students in making informed higher education choices. Today, Khuta ( is an example of an Oman entity that is doing a great job offering career guidance to school students. I hope students are using Khuta's services and resources because, as part of their overall and responsible higher education decision-making process, school students should always make sure they base their choices on verified facts sourced from trustworthy media.
