Sultan Qaboos University today received a delegation from the Turkish Maarif Foundation, led by Mr. Ahmet Türkben, Member of the Executive Board, along with several officials.

The visit formed part of efforts to explore avenues of cooperation between the University and the Turkish Maarif Foundation, which was established by a law enacted by the Turkish Parliament in June 2016. The Foundation is the sole entity authorised to provide educational services abroad in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education. As a non-profit educational institution, it manages schools and universities ranging from pre-school to higher education and maintains partnerships with more than one hundred countries.

During the meeting, the delegation referred to the Turkish School project in the Sultanate of Oman, which was proposed during the visit of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik to the Republic of Türkiye last November.

University officials highlighted that Turkish students constitute the largest group among Sultan Qaboos University’s international student body. They also pointed to the Turkish language teaching programme offered by the Department of Tourism in the College of Arts and Social Sciences, which has witnessed increasing demand, according to Dr. Majda bint Hamood Al-Salti, Head of the Department.

The two sides further discussed opportunities to benefit from Turkish academic expertise at the University, as well as the exchange of student scholarships. Mahmood bin Abdullah Al-Kindi, Director of the Office of International Cooperation, emphasised the importance of the recently launched “Afaaq” programme, which provides international students with the opportunity to pursue their studies at Sultan Qaboos University.