Arab Open University Oman Branch, General Foundation Program Quality Audit, Nov 2021
 
Mr Ben Charles Holden
 
Ben Holden currently leads the Foundation Team at Takatuf Petrofac Oman Training Institute (TPO) in Muscat where he has worked as Head of Foundation since the institute opened in January 2018.  He holds an MA in TEFL/TESL from the University of Birmingham, UK and BA in PPE from the University of Keele, UK.  Previously Ben led the Academic Team at Saudi Petroleum Services Polytechnic (SPSP) in Dammam, KSA where he worked as Academic Training Manager and Saudi Aramco Principal leading the team through multiple quality assurance audits.  He has also worked for CLAIR in Japan specializing in language teaching and teacher training.  Ben’s research interests include English for Specific Purposes specializing in English for the Energy Industries and Quality Management in Vocational and Higher Education.
 
Mr. John Gary Hindmarch
 
Gary joined the UK Merchant Navy in 1975 when he started an Engineering cadetship under the sponsorship of Canadian Pacific. After graduating in 1979, he gained his Second and Chief Engineer qualifications and attained the rank of Chief Engineer in 1986.  After sailing as Chief Engineer for three years, he undertook a position as Planning Engineer at a major production plant in the NE of England, and then a role as Engineering Superintendent for a UK based oil tanker Company. In 1993 he joined South Tyneside College as Lecturer and taught in a number of areas across the college. In 1996 he led the project for the new Engine Simulator installation at the College, and in 2000 the creation of the B.Eng programme which replaced the previous Extra Chief Engineer programme.  He was appointed Head of Faculty for Engineering in 2003.  He was a member of the College Senior Management Team and undertook a major re-organisation of the college programmes to correct an annual operational deficit position.  In 2006 his role expanded to include all maritime operations at the College and become Head of Marine College, a role held until 2010. During that time a number of new programmes were introduced. In 2012, he was appointed into a new role as Vice Principal, Maritime and Higher Education to lead on all maritime programmes, and all higher education programmes across all disciplines within the college. With a college merger in 2015 he was assigned the role of Principal, South Shields Marine School until his retirement in 2018. Externally he has the following roles within The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) on the local Branch level, and as Chair of the Membership Committee; Secretary and Director of the International Association of Maritime Institutions (www.iami.info ) which has 70 members worldwide in the field of maritime training and education. Director of the Maritime Skills Alliance (https://www.maritimeskills.org/ which oversees maritime training across the UK Chair of the Cadet Approval Committee and the Course Recognition Committee of the Merchant Navy Training Board (https://mntb.org.uk/mntb-recognised-courses/ 
 
Dr Raida Al-Alawi
 

Raida Al-Alawi received a Ph.D. Degree in Computational Intelligence from Brunel University – London, MSc in Computer Engineering from the University of London, and a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from Kuwait University. Dr. Raida Al-Alawi is currently working at BFG International as the Director of Technology Development. Before joining BFG, she was the Dean of Student Affairs at Ahlia University - Bahrain. Before joining Ahlia University, she was an associate professor at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering – University of Bahrain (UOB). Dr. Al-Alawi served in various key strategic, academic, and planning committees at both UOB and Ahlia University. She had also served as the chairperson of the Department of Computer Engineering - UOB. Dr. Al-Alawi is the first Bahraini woman to receive a Ph.D. degree in Engineering. She had received many honors and awards among them are the UOB Certificate of Excellence in Teaching, HRH Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Outstanding Academic Women Pioneers Award, and the GCC Engineering Union Award for Pioneers in Engineering. She is an active member of various international societies such as IEEE, ENNS, ACM, FAE, AETDEW, and Sigma Xi scientific research society. In addition, she is chairing the ICT committee of the Federation of Arab Engineers and a board member of the Bahrain Society of Engineers. Dr. Al-Alawi is a Program Evaluator for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), Program Reviewer for Bahrain Education and Training Quality Authority (BQA), and an external Program Reviewer for Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA). She had conducted various consultancy projects in the field of Information Technology and is a referee for several International Journals in the area of Electronics and Computer Engineering. She had been involved in the organizing committees and technical committees of many international and national conferences and workshops. Her current research and teaching interests lie in the area of machine learning, neural networks, deep learning, data analytics and optimization techniques, embedded systems, reconfigurable logic, wireless sensor networks, and computational intelligence.