needed.

I wish you a rewarding and

inspiring year and hope that you

will embrace its opportunities

with energy and enthusiasm,

join us in our mission of inno-

vative learning and applied re-

search that will contribute to

the economic and social devel-

opment of the region by provid-

ing a conducive environment

enhanced by international col-

laboration.

Dr. Abood Al Sawafi

(Vice Chancellor of ASU)

I would like to extend a warm

welcome to our new and con-

tinuing students.

Thank you for choosing A’

Sharqiyah University and we

value you as our students. Stu-

dent success and wellbeing is

ASU's core commitment. Our

University has witnessed re-

markable developments in the

fields of teaching and learning,

research and institution building

and has developed a number of

international collaborations.

The University will continue to

play a role in developing re-

sponsible citizens by supporting

the students in their journey

towards graduation and em-

ployment, with required em-

ployment skills. The Internship

program for ASU students will

commence soon, this will enable

them to apply their skills at

workplace from what they have

been learning in classrooms.

The University will continue to

promote independent learning,

entrepreneurial skills and blend-

ed flexible learning modes for

the benefit of our benevolent

students. Most important I

would like to encourage our

students to use The Academic

Advising and Student Support

Staff, whenever assistance is

I am delighted to inaugurate the

launch of COBA’s bulletin.

There are many exciting devel-

opments to report at COBA

and be proud of. Our student

numbers are increasing and we

are recruiting more academic

staff. We are also introducing

new courses such as Entrepre-

neurship and new degrees such

as Law and Team Entrepreneur-

ship. The Entrepreneurship

course has now become a uni-

versity requirement and must

be studied by students in all

colleges. A record number of

our students are receiving high

grades and have qualified for the

Dean’s Honour Awards. More-

over, an increasing number of

our faculty are conducting re-

search and presenting papers at

international conferences. Our

Business Group Society (formed

by COBA students) have been

engaged in different activities to

help their fellow students, as

evidenced in this bulletin. I am

thankful for the support and

high spirit of everyone at CO-

BA and indeed the University as

a whole.

Prof. Nabil Sultan

(Dean of COBA)

Welcome from the Vice Chancellor

INSID E THIS

ISSUE:

Curriculum 2

Research 2

Students 2

Entrepreneurship 3

Community 4

Dean’s Message

A ’ S H A R Q I Y A H

U N I V E R S I T Y

( O M A N ) College of Business Administration

Newsletter M A Y 2 0 1 5 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

“...join us in our

mission of innovative

learning and applied

research” Vice

Chancellor

P A G E 2

Research activity

heating up at

COBA!

Celebrating the con-

clusion of ASU’s

Graduation

Research & Scholarly Activity

Students

Curriculum Technological developments

are providing educational

institutions with unprecedent-

ed opportunities to expand

student outreach and widen

participation, enhance learning

experiences, save costs, oper-

ate in a global context, pro-

vide flexibility of time and

place, and accommodate di-

versified learning styles. As a

result, A’Sharqiyah University

(ASU) is reaching out to the

pool of potential students by

planning to offer blended

learning programs. Moreo-

ver, ASU is conducting a

blended learning approach

prototype experiment - orga-

nized and implemented by Dr.

Mohamed Akour (Assistant

Professor) - using a common

Learning Management System

(Edmodo) in five sections

(n=200 students) at the Col-

lege of Business Administra-

tion to test the concept of

blended learning approach at

ASU.

A new Bachelor of Business

administration degree in

Team Entrepreneurship mod-

elled after TAMK-Finland

(Tampere University of Ap-

plied Sciences) to meet the

demands of the changing so-

cio-economic environment in

Oman, increase the number of

would be entrepreneurs in the

country, generate employment

opportunity for an increasing

number of graduated young

people, and generate a source of

tax revenues for the govern-

ment in the medium and long

run. This program is a first in

the Sultanate of Oman and in-

deed the Middle East in general.

The vision is to prepare young

men and women entrepreneurs

leaders to effect essential change

in the economy. See the Entre-

preneurship section for more

details.

at ASU’s Cultural Week that

was held between 23 to 25

March 2015. They took an

active part in the Entrepre-

neurship session which con-

tained a number of success-

ful Omani businessmen.

The Dean Honour Ceremo-

ny saw a large number of

COBA students receiving

ASU’s first Gradua-

tion Ceremony, held

in March 2015, saw

the first batch of

COBA students

receiving their Di-

ploma certificates.

COBA students par-

ticipated well in the

university programs

certificates and awards for

their achievement.

and Knowledge Manage-

ment” at Effat University’s

12th Leaning and Technolo-

gy conference in Jeddah,

Saudi Arabia. His paper was

ranked as one of the confer-

ence’s best papers. He was

also a member of a discus-

sion panel that included

professors from the USA

such as Prof. Hunter Hoff-

man from the University of

Washington.

Prof. Sultan was also an invited

speaker at the Servant Leadership

Centre for Research and Education

(SERVUS) at the Free University in

Amsterdam where he delivered a

presentation (entitled “Beating the

odds: A story of pain and success

from the land of Sheba”) on 4 May

2015 at their symposium (entitled

“Servant-Leadership across Crisis

Situations”).

Mr. Mohammed Haneefudeen

(Lecturer) presented a paper enti-

tled "Innovative Policy (cont. p3)

Prof .Nabil Sultan has had a

journal paper accepted with

the International Journal of

Information Management.

The paper is entitled

“Reflective Thoughts on the

Potential and Challenges of

Wearable Technology for

Healthcare Provision and

Medical Education” . In April

2015 Prof. Sultan presented

a paper on wearable tech-

nologies entitled “'Wearable

Technology: Potential and

Challenges for Education

C O L L E G E O F B U S I N E S S

ASU

Graduation

Ceremony

Community

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

Dr. Khalid Hutaibat (Associate

Professor) Visited "Samad Second-

ary School" and presented two

hours session in "Principle of Fi-

nancial Accounting for Small Busi-

nesses" free of charge as a com-

munity service. The community

appreciated the

effort of ASU and is

very interested in

ASU programs and

wish if someone can

give them a visit and

explain our courses.

In collaboration with the ASU’s

Professional Development and

Continuous Learning Community

(headed by Acting Director Mr.

Humaid Al-Wuhaibi), COBA’s

faculty have submitted an exten-

sive program for delivering a range

of lectures and workshops to

members of the community which

will be held during the next few

months.

Two academic colleagues from

COBA (Dr. Godwin John and Mr.

Yousuf Al Kasbi) visited and deliv-

ered an orientation to the stu-

dents of the Mazoon High School,

in Al Qabil (north east of Oman),

on 5 May 2015 between 10-11:30

am. College Courses, ASU facili-

ties and success stories of stu-

dents were among the issues that

were discussed. Around 75 stu-

dents attended the program along

with 2 school teachers.

conference.

Dr. Humaid Al-Hajri was called by

The Omani Society For Writ

ers And Literati to write a paper

about a political novel which will

be presented in October 2015

within the forum (Studying Politi-

cal Discourse of Arabic Political

Novels).

Mr. John Godwin (Lecturer) was

tion: A Catalyst for Multidiscipli-

nary Business and Economic

Development” at the Trends in

Multidisciplinary Business and

Economic Research (TMDER)

conference, held in Bangkok,

Thailand on March 25th and

26th, 2015. He was awarded

certificate for the best paper

and a Certificate of Apprecia-

tion for chairing a session in the

awarded a PhD in Sociology

following a successful viva at

the MK University, India.

He is also keen to confer titles

(such as Fellow, Senior Fellow

and Visiting Professor) on the

invited guests in order to cement

the relation between COBA and

business community.

COBA’s new Team Entrepre-

neurship program is designed to

prepare students by helping them

develop their entrepreneurial

ideas through ventures, feasibility

studies, financing and crowdsourc-

ing. Students learning set up is

based on modern coaching. The

latter is a pedagogical methodolo-

gy led by the idea of dialogue and

learning by doing. Students will

learn a broad range of competen-

cies including opportunity recogni-

tion, apply creativity, small busi-

ness finance, and business plan and

strategy development. Students

are exposed to a variety of real-

world applications through course

-embedded projects and field

study opportunities.

An increasing number of COBA’s

students are expressing interest in

developing their entrepreneurial

ideas in order to become success-

ful business people.

COBA’s Dean (Prof. Nabil Sultan)

is in the process of embarking on

a program that will see the in-

volvement of local, regional and

international entrepreneurs in the

activities of his College through

invited lectures and workshops.

Mazoon

High

School in

Al Qabil

Entrepreneurship

Research & Scholarly Activity (cont.)

Prof. Sultan delivering a

presentation to 150 Mas-

ter students at the Free

University (Amsterdam)

“A record number

of our students

are receiving high

grades and have

qualified for the

Dean’s Honour

Awards” Dean

Phone: +968 25560700

Fax: +968 25560702

Email: raya.al-brwani@asu.edu.om

The College of Business Administration

(COBA) at A’Sharqiyah University (ASU) provides

the intellectual foundation for students’ life-long

learning and career success. COBA, with emphasis

on Oman and international diversity, utilizes tradi-

tional and technology-based pedagogies to create a

positive learning and teaching environment.

In addition to a sustaining emphasis on quality teach-

ing, research and entrepreneurship, student profes-

sional organizations, and advisory activity, COBA

contributes to business, professional, and civic affairs

through public service and intellectual pursuits.

For further information about the College

please contact:

Prof. Nabil Sultan (Dean)

nabil.sultan@asu.edu.om

A’Sharqiyah University

(OMAN)

Pictures from the graduation ceremony...

The college of choice for the future Omani business leaders!