On 30 September 2018, H.E. Dr. Ali bin Saud Al Bimani, the Vice Chancellor of Sultan Qaboos University, received in his office, Mr. Chung Utak, Director, UNESCO Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU). APCEIU, a category 2 organization under the auspices of UNESCO seeks to strengthen regional and sub-regional capacities in planning and implementing a broad range of practices in Education for International Understanding (EIU). It encourages and facilitates collaborative links between Asia-Pacific initiatives and other regional, international and global efforts in education.

APCEIU also carries out research and development related to the philosophy, teaching methods and curricula in the field of EIU and organize training workshops and seminars on EIU. The College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University, with the support of APCEIU has developed an elective course on Global Citizenship Education and it will be offered from the next semester. The College has received teaching and learning materials and other publications on EIU from APCEIU.

During the meeting H.E. Dr. Ali bin Saud Al Bimani and Mr. Chung Utak stressed on the need for strengthening the partnership between SQU and APCEIU and extending the outcomes to various colleges and centres of the University.

It is worth mentioning that the College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University is organizing a regional symposium and a national workshop on integrating citizenship education and mutual universal values in teacher preparation programs in the Arab World: vision and directions. The event will be held 1-3 October 2018. This has come as a result of driving international movements in education for universal citizenship and for the sake of achieving sustainable development in the US. The event will be held in collaboration with the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in the Arab States, UNESCO APCEIU based in Korea, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), and the Oman National Commission for UNESCO.