Omańczycy na Politechnice Warszawskiej
27/03/2014
The Oman Daily Observer.
To the Editor:
Kabeer Yousuf, in his article entitled "Check before enrolling in foreign universities" (paper edition of the Oman Daily Observer 26/03/2014), has manipulated statements made by the officials from the Ministry of Higher Education in Muscat to produce an entirely false picture of the Warsaw University of Technology in Poland - referred to in the article as ?a Polish university? - as well as of Polish universities in general.
The article suggests that the Ministry of Higher Education is conducting a poster campaign to warn Omani students against low quality foreign universities not approved by the Ministry of Higher Education in Muscat, such as an unnamed ?Polish university? where Omani students recently went through an ?ordeal... pertaining to the quality of courses?. The article further claims that the Directorate of External Scholarships, having taken the matter of Omani students in Poland seriously, issued a statement urging students to first make sure if a foreign institution is approved by the Omani ministry ? meaning that the Polish university in question is not approved by the Ministry.
The reality is that Kabeer Yousuf couldn`t be further from the truth in his article. Contrary to what his text suggests, the Warsaw University of Technology is approved by the Omani Ministry of Higher Education. Some Omani students indeed complained about the Polish university. However, the Ministry of Higher Education in Oman has expressly ?refuted allegations from 30 Omani scholarship students currently studying at the Warsaw University of Technology (WuT) in Poland about the quality of courses and the medium in which the classes were taught in? (Muscat Daily,6 Jan. 2014). Ahmed bin Mohammed al Azri, head of the Directorate of External Scholarships did say he ?was seriously looking into the matter? only to exonerate the Warsaw University of Technology from blame. Mr. al Azri said that ?none of our students have shown any interest in participating in extra classes in the Sciences?, he also said that ?the Warsaw University of Technology is a higher education institution with a long-standing tradition in especially Science and Engineering programmes? (Muscat Daily). As it turned out, the students were experiencing difficulties in adapting to a new educational environment and struggled with the cultural differences they encountered in a country far away from home, a predicament of a many, if not of most of the students studying abroad. None of the above is mentioned in the text written by Mr. Yousuf.
Poland is country with long academic traditions ? the first university in Poland was founded 650 years ago in 1364. Nowadays Poland is home to 132 public colleges and universities and 321 private higher education institutions. The Warsaw University of Technology, founded in 1915, is renowned for its excellent scholarship and research.
I`m a citizen of Poland living and working in Oman and I find it extremely upsetting to see the reputation of Polish university education tarnished by an irresponsible journalist who doesn`t trouble himself with the facts. I therefore urge the Oman Daily Observer to rectify this blunder by publishing an appropriate disclaimer in your newspaper.
Sincerely,
Dominik Lubanski, Sohar