The motto of any organization is to produce products or services at reasonable cost and meet and exceed customers' expected quality for value for money. The standard thing or advantage is self-evident and commendable quality to their clients that's worth regard to cash. At the same time, monitoring competitors' quality and further improving quality standards is necessary. The gathering and outperforming customers' expected quality will fulfil needs and customer retention. The comparative investigation of quality affirmation allows organizations to benchmark the HEIs within the region and the GCC for accomplishing quality confirmation and compliance. The country's future depends on exceedingly taught, prepared knowledge seeker with nonstop accentuation on building human capital. Quality within the scholarly segment, the noteworthiness of quality affirmation, and forms of quality affirmation with HEIs are explored.
Top1. Introduction
The prime purpose and existence of any organization is to provide standard products or service at an appreciable and acceptable quality to their customers that is worth the value of money, at the same time matching competitors’ quality. The meeting and exceeding customers’ expected quality will affect customers’ satisfaction and customers’ captivity. The service quality expectation shall be applicable irrespective of service, whether, education, medical, telecom, beauty spa or whatever the services may be. According to (Ansari 2022), service quality contributes towards customers and employee’s satisfaction and profitability. The perception of quality in Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) is the order of the day and its demand is growing with increasing awareness, competition, accreditation requirement, and above all to maintain and grow market good will.
HEIs’ obligation is to maintain quality criterion set by accreditation agencies for satisfying the stakeholders that helps institutions to survive and to maintain its reputation at educational platforms. According to Schmadeka (2012), the evaluation provides essential parameters on institutional robustness and students' accomplishments. Of these two, institutional robustness is crucial. Therefore, accreditation agencies need to follow certain processes, retrieve information and evidence form HEIs on quality compliance for recognizing and awarding assessment and accreditation rating.
The first HEIs in Oman i.e., “Sultan Qaboos University (SQU)” was established by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said in the year 1986. It started its marvelous journey by occupying an incredible place in young universities and world universities ranking as 201-250 and 801-1000 respectively. The remarkable world university ranking positioning speaks about quality of education, academics, and employer reputation, maintaining of faculty to student ratio, international faculty and student’s ratio and citation per faculty to international indexed journals. According to (Magd, 2022), academic integrity, and social interaction are important. Not only the SQU, but there are many other government universities and private colleges in Oman, which functions as HEIs and enroll students from heterogeneous backgrounds, with different nationalities.
After establishing multiple HEIs and the Sultanate of Oman decided to establish, Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA), vide royal decree number 54/2010 in contemplation to monitor quality compliance in HEIs for meeting and exceeding stakeholders’ expectations. OAAA engaged various stakeholders in working out Institutional Accreditation Standards (ISA), by organizing, National Symposium in 2013 and by calling various quality assurance (QA) experts, deans, vice-chancellors, senior officials, and students’ representatives. According to Bank (2014), accreditation, audit and assessment remain important quality assurance parameters. This research critically evaluates QA agencies standards, processes and procedures followed in accreditation processes for HEIs in Gulf Cooperation Councils (GCC). Therefore, based on research purpose the following significance of study is worked out.