In striving to provide the requirements of the aforementioned priorities, goals, mission, and vision, the Department of Engineering meets with several opportunities and confronts several challenges, which are discussed herein.

The Department has several opportunities that can be capitalized on through proper actions. The first of these is the commitment and support provided by the Ministry of Manpower. In addition, strong links are being established with industries in the Sultanate, which have exhibited willingness to participate in supporting the Department. Moreover, the Sultanate's economy is going through a strong expansion phase that can help in expanding the Department and its services. This can be done through providing continuous education to employees and availing research, development, and consultation services to private and public entities.

 

Capitalizing on such opportunities requires appropriate human capital, which is the main challenge facing the Department at present. Currently, there is a global shortage of qualified engineers. Competition for the services of such engineers escalated the cost of recruiting them. Because of such a situation and the large enrollment, the Department presently suffers from an acute shortage of staff. In addition, staff development has not been given proper attention in the past. Further, the caliber of some faculty in the Department is not commensurate with its goals.

 

Besides its human capital, the physical assets of the Department pose another obstacle to fulfilling its goals. Teaching space is lacking in addition to shortages in the equipment available to faculty. This situation, however, is being partially resolved through several on-going projects in the Department. Finally, to date the Department did not have any clear objectives, policies, or procedures to conduct its work. Further, there was a lack of leadership in the Department over the past two years. These two issues collaborated towards the lack of direction and planning, both short- and long-term.

 

The Electrical Engineering Section is one of the three sections of the Department of Engineering. The section offers three ladderized programs namely: Electrical Power Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Telecommunications Engineering. All of the three programs cater to students in Certificate, Diploma, Higher Diploma, and Baccalaureate levels.