Dhofar University Celebrated Achieving Fourteen CTL Specialized Workshops Under the slogan “Dhofar University the beginning and the way forward”

The Centre for Teaching and Learning at Dhofar University, celebrated the closing of its activities for the Academic Year 2022/2023, on Monday, June 5, 2023, under the patronage of Sheikh Yaqoub bin Saif Al Shuhaimi, Director General of the General Directorate of Education in Dhofar Governorate and the attendance of Honourable Vice Chancellor of Dhofar University Professor Amer bin Ali Al Rawas, and members of academic and administrative staff. The Centre is a service research unit established in 2008 to contribute to the achievement of the University’s mission to provide quality education and learning and scientific research in an environment that stimulates creativity and innovation, as well as engagement with the community. The Centre also seeks to provide the faculty members at the University with professional support, disseminate qualitative initiatives in the field of university teaching and learning as well as build effective partnerships to improve the University’s learning outcomes. In his opening address to the event, Dr. Ahmad Abdulrahman Balkheir, Associate Professor at the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at Dhofar University, and a member of the Centre for Teaching and Learning referred to the symbolism of the slogan “From here we start”, stating that the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Dhofar University functions as a small team embodied by the members of the Centre and a broad team of all the University’s staff involved in the educational process, adding “from here we start and keep in mind the need for innovative approaches to stay abreast with the speedy growth of knowledge. This is what the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Dhofar University envisages while expecting all sectors at the University to benefit and contribute to others as well. Dr. Balkheir added, “From Dhofar University, we embark and the open horizon is the limit.”

The ceremony witnessed a presentation of the Centre’s outputs and achievements, followed by an elaborate speech by CTL Director, Dr. Khalid Al Mashikhi who explained DU’s faculty professional development activities that comprised 14 training workshops in the year 2022/2023, five of which were conducted in the first semester in cooperation with King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar University, Toyama University of Japan as well as the British Accreditation Service for International Colleges (ASIC). Dr. Mashikhi remarked that the Center for Teaching and Learning at Dhofar University is inspired by the sixth goal of the university’s Ten-Year Plan (2021-2031), adopting it as leverage to achieve the TYP’s second goal of fostering professional development activities that target DU’s faculty members who attended all workshops held during the first semester of the academic year.

Dr. Al Mashikhi added that the second semester was marked by conducting nine professional development workshops in cooperation with Sultan Qaboos University, the German University of Technology in Oman, Majan College, the Omani Society for Hearing Impairment as well as the Ministry of Education in the Sultanate of Oman. The total number of faculty training workshops conducted during 2022/2023 reached 21 with the participation of 16 speakers including professors and experts from international universities, as well as appreciated contributions by experts from universities in the Sultanate of Oman.

In the closing of the event, Professor Sheikh Yaqoub bin Saif Al Shuhaimi, Patron of the Ceremony, joined Professor Amir bin Ali Al Rawas to award certificates of appreciation to faculty members and participants in recognition of their valuable contributions. Professor Al Rawas honoured the ceremony’s patron, Sheikh Yaqoub bin Saif Al Shuhaimi, with an accolade of appreciation for his distinguished support.