Dubai: Starting next academic year, Oman’s Ministry of Higher Education has announced it will ban its students from enrolling in two educational institutions in the UAE after recruiters say the quality of education of students who graduated from these universities is not up to par.

Omani students are banned from attending Ajman University of Science and Technology (AUST) and the College of Islamic and Arabic Studies in Dubai starting from the 2015-2016 academic year.

The Omani ministry issued a statement saying that the decision was based on a thorough study carried out by its Committee on Qualifications for Institutions, after receiving a number of complaints by recruiting companies and institutes saying that students who graduate from either educational of these institutes have a low success rate in their jobs.

Following the study, the Oman Ministry of Higher Education issued three decisions: First, it will remove Ajman University and all its departments as well as the College of Islamic and Arabic Studies and all its departments from its list of recommended universities in the UAE. Second, It will not allow Omani students to join both universities from the 2015-16 academic year. Third, it will not grant degree equivalence to Omani students who continue attending both universities after the decision by the ministry was issued.

Omani students currently enrolled in either institution will, however, receive their qualifications.

In an official statement, Ajman University said it received a letter from the cultural attaché at the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in Abu Dhabi on February 26, detailing the decision to cease granting degree equivalence to Omani students enrolled in Ajman University beginning next academic year.

Ajman University currently has 749 Omani students enrolled in two of their campuses in Ajman and Fujairah and has had more than 10,000 Omani graduating since its establishment in 1988.

The university said the official statement of the Omani cultural attaché completely contradicts the statements advanced by the Director of the Department of Qualifications and Recognition at the Ministry of Higher Education in Oman.

“The Omani cultural attaché stated the reason for this decision is the saturation of the labour market in the Sultanate of Oman, within specific disciplines,” while the director of the department said, “the ministry’s retention rate for AUST diploma graduates decreased sharply in the last few years, pointing out to low quality standards”.

Ajman University said it would like to reaffirm that the admission rates to its different programmes are well-known and remain unchanged, reiterating its strict commitment to adhering to these standards, which are routinely assessed and monitored by the Commission for Academic Accreditation at the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

“Hence, we wonder about the nature of the extensive reviews on which the director of qualifications and recognition justified this decision and how relevant these reviews are to the applicable international standards.”

Ajman University also said it has not received any formal notification through official channels to provide any sort of institutional data that could be used as basis for a similar assessment report.

Gulf News contacted the College of Islamic and Arabic Studies in Dubai but they did not wish to comment on the matter.