Dhofar University, Institutional Standards Assessment, May 2016
 
Prof. Clive Neal-Sturgess
 
Clive Neal-Sturgess was educated at King Edward VI School Nuneaton, was a Student Apprentice, graduated with a 1st Class Honours’ Degree from Lanchester College Coventry, and took his PhD in the Forming of Tool Steels at the University of Birmingham.  He held the Jaguar Chair of Automotive Engineering 1988-2004, and was formerly Head of Mechanical Engineering at Birmingham.  He has served in numerous bodies within the University of Birmingham, spent 17 years as a member of Senate, and has been a member of Court since 1988.  In 2006 he was honoured by being elected a University Foundation Fellow.He spent the majority of his academic career researching Continuum Damage Mechanics, Finite Element Methods, and the injuries to car occupants and pedestrians in crashes.  He is co-author of three books and over 150 research publications, and a member of the Editorial Boards of three Journals. He is a member of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, and the European Transport Safety Council. He has been an external examiner at various universities for 20 years including the Universities of Mauritius, Malaysia, and the Caledonian College of Engineering Oman. He has been a quality assurance assessor since 1996, and in 2008 was appointed as a subject reviewer for the UN Development Project at Arab Universities, reviewing Damascus and Helwan Universities in 2008.  He has served as an accreditor for both the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Engineering Accreditation Board in the UK since 1992.  He was Chairman of the Panel which reviewed the Engineering Councils (UK) examinations in 2007.  He has been a reviewer for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Australian and Canadian National Research Councils, and is an assessor for the National Teaching Fellowships Scheme of the Higher Education Academy.  He has been a member of the Engineering Professors’ Council for 12 years, and is currently Chairman of the International Working Group. 
 
Prof. Ian Cumbus
 
Professor Ian Cumbus studied Biological Sciences at the University of Lancaster (UK) and subsequently in 1975 obtained his PhD in Plant Physiology at the University of Bath (UK). Postdoctoral Fellowships at the University of Bath and Oxford University were followed by appointment as Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University in 1979. Secondments have included Foundation Dean of Science at the Asian University of Science and Technology in Thailand, start up and Head of Biotechnology programs at the Singapore Polytechnic, and Coordinator of Policy & Planning at Zayed University (1998-2000). Dr. Cumbus is a member of the UK’s Higher Education Academy and is a Chartered Biologist with the Institute of Biology (UK).   Over the years Professor Cumbus has received awards for Teaching Excellence and was recipient of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship in 1981. Most recently, in his role as Assistant Principal (Academic) at Writtle College UK, Dr. Cumbus was awarded Professorial status by the University of Essex in 2003. Dr. Cumbus has worked on contract for the Higher Education Funding Councils in England and Wales as Special Subject Quality Assessor and for other accreditation boards in the UK and internationally. Dr. Cumbus has worked as a Commissioner with the Commission for Academic Accreditation, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, in the United Arab Emirates. He has also been a Qualifications Framework Expert at the National Qualifications Authority, United Arab Emirates. 
 
Prof. Martin Oosthuizen
 
Martin Oosthuizen holds a doctoral degree in Theology from the University of South Africa. He is currently Chief Executive Officer at Cape Higher Education Consortium Western Cape, South Africa.  Until June 2011 he was the Senior Director of the Centre for Planning and Institutional Development at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), where his responsibilities focused on quality management and strategic and academic planning. He has been actively involved in the work of the South African Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC), and in particular in the development of the institutional audit system. He is also a trained institutional auditor under the HEQC’s institutional audit system, and serves as an international reviewer for the Quality Assurance Agency in Scotland, the Higher Education Review Unit in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority. He has presented various papers on quality assurance at both national and international conferences, and is a regular contributor to the Quality Assurance Forum of Higher Education South Africa (HESA). One of the key projects in which he is currently involved is a collaborative project between the NMMU and the University of Johannesburg to develop a consolidated qualifications structure for the two comprehensive universities. An important aspect of the project concerns the challenge of diversity and differentiation in the South African higher education sector. 
 
Dr Rima Al Zadjali
 

Dr. Rima Al Zadjali is a graduate of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), College of Education. She has an MA in Language Testing and Program Evaluation (with distinction) from the University of Essex, UK and a PhD degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Lancaster, UK. Dr. Rima has been the Dean of Gulf College, Oman since May 2018. Prior to that, she had a long career as a senior language lecturer and a quality assurance specialist at SQU (from 1997-2018). Dr. Rima served as the Deputy Director for Academic Affairs and Community Service at the Quality Assurance Office, SQU from 2013-2018. In this role, she worked closely with administrative and academic units in all matters pertaining to quality assurance, accreditation, policy development, and performance management. Dr. Rima previously served as the Deputy Director for Assessment at the Language Centre, SQU. In this post, she supervised the design and implementation of English language achievement, placement, and exit tests in the General Foundation Program (GFP). Dr. Rima has been an external reviewer with the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA) since 2010. She has participated as a panel member in a number of institutional and GFP Quality Audits. She has also served as panel member in the first Institutional Standards Assessment in Oman and chaired the first GFP Quality Audit in Oman. She also served as Executive Officer (Review Director) during her secondment at the OAAA in 2012. She is a certified KP Trainer and Certified Performance Improvement Professional by the KPI institute. Dr. Rima served as a co-opted and elected member of the Executive Committee of the Oman Quality Network in Higher Education (OQNHE), now known as the Oman Association for Quality in Higher Education (OAQHE).

 
Dr. Thomas Heming
 
Dr. Heming completed his undergraduate studies (BSc) at University of Guelph, MSc at University of Victoria, and PhD (Physiology) at University of British Columbia (Canada).  He completed postdoctoral studies in Department of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (USA). He was Head of Toxicology for Alberta Department of Environment (Canada) from 1985-1987. He then served as a faculty member, jointly, in the Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Texas Medical Branch from 1987-2002. From 2002-2004, he was Associate Professor in Department of Internal Medicine at University of Texas Health Science Center. He joined Oman Medical College in Oman in 2004 and currently is Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Physiology. The college is affiliated to West Virginia University (USA), where Dr. Heming holds the position of Adjunct Professor, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology in the School of Medicine.   Dr. Heming has played an active role in the Oman Quality Network for Higher Education from the network’s inception and was former Chairman of the Executive Committee. He has considerable experience in quality audits and accreditation reviews, and has served as an external reviewer for the national accreditation agencies of Oman, UAE (Dubai), and Bahrain.