First IT college in Oman to open soon

The first college of Information Technology in the GCC will start imparting education in Oman from October 15 at the Knowledge Oasis in Al Rusayl.

The college will impart exclusive knowledge in information technology. It will be affiliated with India's prestigious Manipal Academy of Higher Education.

"We have created the environment in the campus similar to the one we have in our Bangalore campus," N. Chandrasekaran, the academic head at the Middle East College of Information Technology (MECIT), told Gulf News yesterday on the sidelines of an exhibition on the private universities and colleges at the Seeb Novotel.

"We call it a Technowledge Corridor," the MECIT's vice president Lefeer Muhamed said, adding that their institute is the first of kind in the region.

"There are others who teach information technology but none are exclusively for IT teaching like ours.

"There will be a basic education of first two years with emphasis on entrepreneurial subjects," he said and added the rest of the two years will include education in software, hardware, Internet and networking related subjects.

Besides offering the Bachelors in Information Technology degree, the MECIT will also offer diploma programmes in software technology, Internet technology, and hardware and networking.

Chandrasekaran said soon the institute will also start distance education. "It is different from online education."

According to the academician in distance education, which will be taught online, experts will teach online and answer questions.

"The world is a global village and IT has no boundaries," he said. Thus through distance education, the institute also plans to train company employees, "be it in Oman or the UAE," remarked Chandrasekaran.

Education at the new institute in Oman will be much more cheaper than going to Manipal. "We will also provide visas to students and hostel accommodation," Chandrasekaran revealed.

The Manipal Academy of Higher Education has institutes in Malaysia. "Most of the doctors in Malaysia are from our Medical College," claimed Chandra-sekaran. They also have institutes in Mauritius, Nepal and Sikkim in India.

He hinted that they will start a medical college in Oman too in near future. The fee structure at the MECIT is affordable with Dhs 20,000 annual fees for the degree courses and Dhs 12,500 for diploma part time courses.