The Impact of Global University Ranking on higher education institutions? Governance and Policies in the Sultanate of Oman

Oman is largely indifferent when compared with other countries in relation to adopting the global ranking of universities and ride the wave of league tables. Indeed, the Omani government has made it clear in the Oman Vision 2040 that by 2030, the aim is to have three universities among the top 300 universities in the QS Ranking system; and four universities by 2040. With such aim and desire for world-class universities, research on the rankings of universities in Oman is needed. It is not anymore a choice of ?to rank or not to rank?, but a target that the Omani higher education system has to achieve in the next two decades to prove its capacity in serving the Omani nation and its declared future vision. This performance indicator undoubtedly creates pressure for the Omani higher education system to enter this race and compete with other universities globally. This project aims to investigate how entering the ranking race has brought changes to governance and policy content of Omani Universities (Sultan Qaboos University and Dhofar University). A qualitative research method approach will be used to frame the data collection and analysis. The nature of this study requires qualitative data to answer the research questions. The Qualitative method will provide insight into the needed actions and strategies to improve the performance of institutions, thereby improving their rankings. The project will focus on two Omani universities as case studies, namely: Sultan Qaboos University and Dhofar University. This selection is based on the direction of the Oman Vision 2040 that four Omani universities should be among the top 300 universities by 2040. Moreover, the research team contacted the top leadership of these universities received their consent to take part in the research project by providing data, facilitating the data collection and assigning researchers from their institutions to have key responsibilities in the research project phases.