Benchmarks for the Omani higher education students-faculty ratio (SFR) based on World Bank data, QS rankings, and THE rankings

Abstract

The main objective of the current study is to establish a justifiable data-driven students-faculty ratio (SFR) benchmark for higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Sultanate of Oman. This is established based on analyzing selected secondary data from three sources using purposive sampling. This study reflects quantitative research adopting descriptive analysis (frequency and percentage). The three sources of data used to arrive at this national benchmark are: (1) World Bank Open Data, (2) Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) University Rankings, and (3) THE (Times Higher Education) University Rankings. Based on 13 data points, the simple (unweighted) average SFR for Oman is 19.04. The current study recommends an upper limit of 30 students per academic full time faculty member in Omani HEIs. When the most-recent records in the World Bank Open Data portal for the 22 Arab League countries were averaged, a regional benchmark of 24.82 was obtained (which decreases to 17.00 if a subset of the six Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, countries is considered). The seven HEIs (all are universities) that received a rank in the latest edition (2024 edition) of QS Arab Region University Rankings (QS-AUR) were among the data points considered in the analysis. These QS ranking results were published online on 18/October/2023, with a total of 223 ranked Arab HEIs. The five HEIs (four universities and one standalone university college) that either received a rank (only Sultan Qaboos University, or SQU) or were recognized as a reporter without being qualified enough to officially receive a rank in the latest edition (2024 edition) of THE World University Rankings (THE-WUR) were also considered in the analysis. These THE ranking results were published online on 27/September/2023, with a total of 1,904 ranked HEIs worldwide. As a secondary objective, the study assesses the level of mismatch in the SFR value for four Omani universities that appeared in the 2024 edition of both QS-AUR and THE-WUR. The percentage of mismatch in SFR between the QS and THE values (with respect to the average of the two values) for each of these four universities ranged from 0.68% to 25.30%. As a tertiary objective, the study gives an overview about three popular university ranking services, which are: QS, THE, and ARWU (Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as Shanghai Ranking). Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) is the only Omani HEI that received a global rank through either the QS or THE ranking service in their respective latest edition (edition 2024, released in 2023), and it is the only Omani HEI that was ever ranked by ARWU since its first edition in June 2003 (but it was not ranked in the latest ‘2023’ edition). The enrollment of Arab HEIs in the regional Arab version of THE rankings has grown faster than the regional QS counterpart when the latest 3 released editions are considered for both types of regional rankings, where the number of Arab HEIs ranked in the 2023 edition (released on 15/November/2023) of the Arab version of THE rankings (having 207 ranked Arab HEIs) is notably higher than its value in the earlier 2021 edition released on 27/July/2021 (having 125 ranked Arab HEIs).

Keywords:

• Students-faculty ratio
• SFR
• higher education
• QS
• THE
• ARWU
• Oman
• Arab

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Stephen Darwin, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile

SUBJECTS:

• Higher Education Management; Further & Higher Education; Teaching & Learning - Education

1. Introduction and literature review

In higher education (tertiary education), a number of quality indicators are used to quantify the performance of a higher education institution, a college (faculty) within it, or a degree program offered by it (Easley et al., 2021; Sadh & Kumar, 2022). Other higher education quality indicators include R&D (research and development), and the number of researchers (Chen et al., 2017; Wiechetek & Pastuszak, 2022). Knowing the value of such indicators per se is insufficient for conclusive evaluation. Instead, the relative position of the value with respect to benchmarks (particularly, the average of peers) is what enables meaningful judgement about whether or not remedial actions are needed to rectify the status quo. Out of several indicators for higher education, the students-faculty ratio (SFR) is covered here. It may also be designated by other names (Aviso et al., 2021; Dampier, 2021; Hanafi & Abuzar, 2021; Udoh & Atanda, 2022), such as student-faculty ratio, students per teacher, pupil teacher ratio (PTR), student-teacher ratio (STR), student-staff ratio (SSR), or faculty student ratio (FSR). Even in pre-college education, the number of students per teacher (which affects the average class size) is considered an element of the teaching quality (Opanuga et al., 2019; Pal & Santra, 2019).

As an example for the importance of the students-faculty ratio (SFR) in higher education (tertiary education), a scheme called ‘Institutions of Eminence (IoE)’ was introduced in India in 2017 by the University Grants Commission (UGC), which is a statutory organization within the Indian government (Chaturvedi, 1986; Singh, 1984; UGC [University Grants Commission], 2024). The Indian IoE scheme aims at establishing 20 world-class teaching and research higher education institutions in India (Drishti The Vision Foundation, 2023), distributed as 10 public institutions and 10 private institutions. One of the critical factors for an IoE is a 10:1 students-faculty ratio (Bhardwaj & Kumar, 2023).

The Indian National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MoHRS) of the Government of India (Muralidharan & Singh, 2021; Verma & Tripti, 2023), covers both school education (Part I) and higher education (Part II). The higher education part has a section titled (13. Motivated, Energized, and Capable Faculty). Under that section, there is an item whose first half states that ‘13.3. Teaching duties also will not be excessive, and student-teacher ratios not too high, so that the activity of teaching remains pleasant and there is adequate time for interaction with students, conducting research, and other university activities’. (MoHRS [Ministry of Human Resource Development, India], 2020). This statement does not define what ‘too high’ student-teacher ratio is. If a benchmark (a reference point or standard value) is available, then it can allow for interpreting that a ‘too high’ student-teacher ratio is what exceeds that value by a certain margin. For example, if the benchmarking value is 20, and a 50% margin is decided; then a student-teacher ratio above 30 is considered too high. The Indian National Education Policy 2020 is mentioned here as a general example where having a benchmark for the students-faculty ratio in higher education is necessary.

A second example that illustrates the need for establishing a benchmark for students-faculty ratio (SFR) corresponds to the Sultanate of Oman. The first version of the Programme Standards Assessment Manual, or PSAM (which is the official document describing the process of national Omani accreditation of higher education programs in Oman) was issued in February 2023 by the Oman Authority for Academic Accreditation and Quality Assurance of Education, or OAAAQA (OAAAQA [Oman Authority for Academic Accreditation & Quality Assurance of Education], 2023), after a draft version was made available earlier in March 2016 when that national authority was named Oman Authority for Academic Accreditation, or OAAA (Al-Issa, 2020). In that finalized version 1 of the Omani PSAM, there is a standard titled (Standard 2: Coursework Programme Design and Delivery), which has a criterion titled (Criterion 2.4: Teaching Quality). That criterion is accompanied by a number of non-mandatory (guiding) indicators, and one of them is ‘e) The programme staff-student ratio is appropriate for the subject’s requirements and to deliver the stated teaching and learning approaches’. The qualitative description ‘appropriate’ for the staff-student ratio makes it difficult for the assessment panel who evaluate a submitted program’s accreditation application to judge the reported staff-student ratio. Instead, if such a reported ratio is accompanied with a nationally reported recommended value or an upper acceptable bound, then a simple comparison yields successful assessment regarding the appropriateness of the program’s staff size.

A third example that illustrates the need for having a nation-level benchmark value for the students-faculty ratio (SFR) in universities and colleges corresponds to the United States. In a recent study about understanding the perceptions of incivility in higher education (Hudgins et al., 2023), a student-faculty ratio of 17 (or 17:1) was mentioned for the university that was the site of the study, which caused that university to be described as ‘affords better than average opportunities to interact with faculty members’. However, the lack of a clearly-stated benchmark value makes it difficult to infer how good this reported value is relative to the national norm.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) includes education among its scope of interests (OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development], 2024a). According to publicly published data for 2017 by OECD, along with UIS (UNESCO Institute for Statistics), and Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union), the ratio of students to teaching staff in tertiary education in 31 countries around the world (including Brazil, Estonia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabi, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States) was reported as two average values, one for public higher education institutions (HEIs) and another for private HEIs (OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development], 2019). Excluding France, Germany, Italy, and UK (which was a European Union country before 31/January/2020); the remaining European Union (EU) countries had an average SFR of 15 for public institutions, and 16 for private ones. The SFR value for France was 16 for public institutions (no value was reported for private ones). The SFR value for Germany was 12 for public institutions, and 18 for private ones. The SFR value for Italy was 21 for public institutions, and 15 for private ones. The average SFR value for OCED member countries was 15 for public institutions, and 16 for private ones. For either of Costa Rica, France, Ireland, Netherlands, and Switzerland; only one SFR was reported for public institutions (none was reported for private institutions). For the remaining 26 analyzed individual countries; public institutions had a higher SFR than private institutions in 11 countries (such as India, the United States, and Saudi Arabia); while private institutions had a higher SFR in 13 countries (such as Brazil, Poland, and Norway); and both public and private institutions had an equal SFR in two countries (Turkey, SFR 26; and Czech Republic, SFR 18). The largest SFR gap between public and private institutions was for Brazil (public SFR 11, private SFR 42, difference 31), and India (public SFR 42, private SFR 19, difference 23). Also, for the 26 analyzed countries with both public and private SFR values, the overall SFR gap was only 1.2 (overall public SFR 16.6, overall private SFR 17.8). If the absolute value (rather than the signed value) of the SFR gap between public and private HEIs for these 26 countries, the overall average increases to 5.8. If all the 57 SFR values (57 data points) in that analysis are averaged, combining both public and private HEIs, the overall average SFR becomes 17.2. It should be noted that this list of 31 countries with a reported students-faculty ratio (SFR) was not limited only to OECD member states, which became 38 countries on 25/May/2021 (OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development], 2021). For example, India and Saudi Arabia were included in the SFR analysis despite not being OECD member states. In addition, there are OECD member states (OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development], 2024b) that were not in this reported SFR analysis, such as Chille (OECD member since 7/May/2010) and the United Kingdom (OECD member since 2/May/1961).

According to the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) in Nigeria (which is an agency under the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education), the recommended upper limit for the students-faculty ratio (SFR) within tertiary programs in Colleges of Education (which train junior secondary school teachers) is 25, which is set for ensuring acceptable teaching quality (Kwami et al., 2023).

As shown in the previous examples, the presence of a national recommended value (or upper tolerable limit) for the students-faculty ratio (SFR) can be a valuable key performance indicator (KPI) for a higher education institution (HEI), where HEIs can monitor the suitability of their academic staff (in terms of the number of the academic staff relative to the number of students). The particular country of interest here is the Sultanate of Oman, which recently experienced rapid urbanization and development in higher education, and also has potential for further growth and advancement in renewable energy and hydrogen production and export (Marzouk, 2021b, 2022a, 2022b, 2023, 2024a). HEIs in Oman may use the results in this study while preparing for their recently-launched periodic (every five years) national Programme Standards Assessment, or PSA, which is the Omani program accreditation; or while preparing for their existing periodic (every five years) Institutional Standards Assessment, or ISA, which is the Omani institutional accreditation for a HEI as a whole (Al-Amri et al., 2020, 2021; Al-Balushi et al., 2022; Alexopoulos et al., 2023; Al-Saadi, 2023; OAAAQA [Oman Authority for Academic Accreditation & Quality Assurance of Education], 2016). may include a reference to SFR as a quality metric. The current study also summarizes recent and historical information about external internationally-recognized HEI ranking results that can be useful for Omani HEIs. Readers from outside Oman may also benefit from this study through being exposed to open-access data sources of SFR values, which can be used to establish a national benchmark SFR in another country.

The concept of benchmarking for university rankings is based on comparing different universities (or more broadly HEIs) in terms of certain performance indicators selected to suit the general aim of the ranking (Amsler & Bolsmann, 2012; Çakır et al., 2015; Charon & Wauters, 2008; Lukman et al., 2010; Taylor & Braddock, 2007). For example, a ranking system that aims at guiding prospective students when selecting the institution in which they have their higher education may pay special attention to the reputation of the institution, the scholarship level of its academic staff, the successful career of its alumni, the student life, and the degree of institutional support available to the students. Different weights can be assigned to the elementary components used in the rankings to arrive at an overall score (Altbach, 2012; Grewal et al., 2008; Proulx, 2007; Turner, 2005; Wilbers & Brankovic, 2023).

In a comparative study about three different global university ranking services, it was found that these university ranking services tend to give more attention to research, compared to teaching and student environment (Pavel, 2015). This can be connected to the heavy reliance on research outcomes (such as the number published research works) when ranking faculty members or academic journals, with the process can be easily quantified and objectively explained based on simple statistics (Demir et al., 2024; Fry et al., 2023). The results of HEIs rankings are viewed not only as useful information for prospective students or for the community, but also for the ranked institutions themselves. These results act as a diagnosis process, revealing possible opportunities for improvements based on the relative position of each ranked institution with respect to peer institutions. The globalization (internationalization) within higher education (Marzouk, 2007) is considered one of the reasons for fostering global university rankings, with millions of students seeking higher education outside their country of origin, and the rankings help them in making a wise decision (Glass & Cruz, 2023). Likewise, faculty members may use the same HEIs ranking when choosing from multiple options with regard to their HEI employer (Qu & Dai, 2024).

The claimed novelty of the present study is manifested through the analysis of collected or computed students-faulty ratio (SFR) values within higher education institutions (HEIs), with a particular focus on the Sultanate of Oman. While other studies and reported data about SFR exist (as demonstrated by the preceding studies in the literature), the current study has a special feature of national emphasis, making it useful for quality assurance members and management staff in Omani HEIs. Outside local HEIs, the reported SFR data here form guidelines for accreditation panel members, who are assigned an accreditation duty or another external evaluation task with regard to an Omani HEI. In addition, the reported SFRs can be beneficial for regional benchmarking purposes by non-Omani HEIs. In addition, the summarized rankings information for Omani HEIs is another claimed contribution by the current study, and such a summary can be useful to the same groups mentioned.

2. Research method

The current study is based on simple statistical analysis of collected data about the students-faulty ratio (SFR) within higher education (tertiary education) institutions. The research method is quantitative, with descriptive statistical analysis using frequency (counts) and percentage. There are three main sources of data utilized here. These data are released by reputable organizations, and each of these organizations made its data openly accessible to the public. This facilitates validation of the study by others, and also makes the study widely applicable. The latest edition (as of the time of preparing the current study) of data from each source was used.

Table 1 lists the sources of the higher education SFR values utilized in the current study, as well as some details about which higher education institutions (HEIs) were covered to obtain a benchmarking SFR value.

Table 1. Summary of the data used in the current study.

Data source	Data type	Release year	Edition year or update year	References
WB	Data taken from the (World Bank Open Data) portal. The data represent historical average numbers of pupils per teacher in tertiary schools. Dataset ID: ID: SE.TER.ENRL.TC.ZS. Direct source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Data are as of February Oman and the remaining 21 Arab countries are covered here.	2016 (for Oman) Varies (for other countries)	2020	WBG, 2023a
QS	HEIs profile pages at QS rankings website. The seven Omani HEIs (SQU, UoN, DU, NUST, SU, GUtech, ASU) that received a rank in the 2024 edition of QS-AUR are covered here (compared to five Omani HEIs in both the 2023 edition and the 2022 edition of QS-AUR). One of these seven Omani HEIs (which is SQU) received also a worldwide rank in the global version of QS for the same 2024 edition. The results of QS-AUR (latest edition of 2024) were published online on Wednesday, 18/October/2023. A total of 223 Arab HEIs were ranked in the 2024 edition (compared to 199 Arab HEIs in the 2023 edition of QS-AUR published on Wednesday 19/October/2022; and 181 Arab HEIs in the 2022 edition of QS-AUR published on Saturday 13/November/2021).	2023	2024	QS, 2023a
THE	Ranking table at THE rankings website (after selecting ‘Oman’ as the country/region). The five Omani HEIs that were either listed as a ranked HEI or as a reporter HEI in THE-WUR of 2024 edition are covered here. For these five Omani HEIs, a single HEI received a THE-WUR rank (which is SQU). Other four Omani HEIs (DU, GC, NUST, and SU) were listed (without a rank) with a ‘reporter’ status. The results of THE-WUR (latest edition of 2024) were published online on Wednesday, 27/September/2023. A total of 1,904 worldwide HEIs were ranked in the 2024 edition (2,673 HEIs were listed, including additional 769 reporter HEIs without a rank).	2023	2024	THE, 2023

For WB and THE data, the SFR values were directly reported (no data processing was needed).

For WB, the SFR value mentioned here is the reported (pupil-teacher ratio, tertiary), which was defined in the World Bank Open Data portal as the result of dividing the number of students at the tertiary level of education by the number of teachers at the same tertiary level of education (WBG [World Bank Group], 2023b). These tertiary education data were collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) from official responses to its annual education survey. The Sultanate of Oman is one of the 194 UNESCO member states (as of February 2024). It is a UNESCO member since 1972. All the other 21 Arab League countries are also UNESCO members (UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization], 2023).

For THE rankings (the 2024 edition), the directly reported (No. of students per staff) is the SFR value used here for the five Omani HEIs in the 2024 edition of the global THE rankings (both ranked and reporter HEIs have a SFR value in the results, although reporter HEIs do not have a rank). According to THE, the reported (student-to-staff ratio) is the ratio of full-time-equivalent (FTE) students to the number of academic staff. Furthermore, THE defines (academic staff) as the HEI employees who are involved in either teaching or research (but not necessarily both).

For QS data (the 2024 edition), both the total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students, and the FTE total number of academic faculty staff members are reported separately, but the SFR value itself is not reported directly. Both teaching staff and research staff are included when counting the number of faculty members. Based on the description of the QS ranking method, it is practically not possible to separate academic faculty members into a teaching group and a research group, because this distinction is not clearly defined for many countries (QS [Quacquarelli Symonds Limited], 2022). The SFR value is computed here through dividing the directly reported total number of FTE students by the directly reported total number of FTE academic faculty staff members, for each of the seven QS-AUR-ranked HEIs in Oman (in the 2024 rankings edition).

The data analysis followed in the current study is based on processing collected raw data from the three sources mentioned above (content analysis). All the data accessed were made available online by the respective source. The data processing included filtering the data (for the country of Oman), tracking historical data in previous years, organizing the data to facilitate achieving the aims of the study, and preparing supporting graphs or tables. The inclusion of the World Bank data is justified by the well-documented and mature data portal of the World Bank Group. The inclusion of THE and QS as ranking sources is justified by their popularity as global university rankings (Hamann & Ringel, 2023; Moshtagh et al. 2023; Yonezawa, 2023). There is a third global university ranking service that is also popular, which is the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), and it is also referred to as (Shanghai Ranking). It is managed by the independent higher-education intelligence organization (ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, SRC), located in Shanghai, China. Despite being an internationally-recognized ranking portal providing annual university rankings (like QS and THE), ARWU is not suitable for inclusion in the current study, because the ranking methodology of ARWU excludes the students-faulty ratio, SFR (SRC [Shanghai Ranking Consultancy], 2024). In addition, there is very limited presence of Omani HEIs in ARWU, with only one Omani HEI (Sultan Qaboos University, SQU) received a rank three times since the first ARWU edition of 2003 (published in June 2003). These three successful ranking incidents took place in the ARWU edition of 2019 (SQU was ranked within the ranking tier 801–900; with respect to 1,000 worldwide HEIs), in the ARWU edition of 2021 (SQU was ranked within the ranking tier 901–1,000; with respect to 1,000 worldwide HEIs), and in the ARWU edition of 2022 (SQU was ranked within the ranking tier 801-900; with respect to 1,000 worldwide HEIs). Thus, over 21 released ARWU editions, only one HEI from Oman was ranked, and this was only three times, which were not even sequential. It may be beneficial to add that, unlike QS and THE, ARWU does not have a regional Arab version of its university rankings, but it has a national version covering Chinese higher education institutions. Also, unlike THE (but similar to QS), ARWU does not offer a ‘reporter’ status. Thus, the HEI has to successfully receive a rank in order to be listed in the ARWU rankings results.

3. Results

3.1. WB historical data for Oman

The historical data of the students-faculty ratio (SFR) in the Sultanate of Oman from the World Bank Open Data are visualized in Figure 1. The data contained 33 data points between 1977 (earliest available data point for Oman) and 2016 (latest available data point for Oman). Some years do not have data in the WB dataset, which explains the discontinuities in the plotted line in the figure. It is interesting that in the early phase of data, SFR was as low as only 2 (in 1982). Also, the peak reported SFR was 20.04155 (in 2006). The latest national SFR available is 16.2165 (in 2016).

Figure 1. Historical data for SFR in Oman, based on World Bank Open Data.

3.2. WB latest data for Arab countries

The World Bank Open Data can be beneficial in estimating a regional benchmark of SFR for the Arab region, which refers to the political Arab League (formally, the League of Arab States, or LAS), consisting of 22 Arab countries in Asia and Africa (LAS [League of Arab States], 2023). The list of these 22 countries, the year of latest available SFR value in the WB dataset for each country, these latest 22 SFR values, and the average of these 22 SFR values are given in Table 2. The countries in this table are ordered by SFR (from the smallest to the largest). The smallest Arab SFR in the WB data is 5 (dated 2014), which corresponds to the Arab country Lebanon. The largest Arab SFR in the WB data is 64 (dated 2015), which corresponds to the Arab country Syria. The average SFR values for these 22 Arab countries is 24.82.

Table 2. SFR values for Arab countries in the World Bank Open Data.

Index	Rank (by SFR, lower SFR is better)	Arab country	Year of latest SFR	Latest SFR (ascending)
1	1	Lebanon	2014	5
2	2	Qatar	2016	13
3	3 (shared)	Jordan	2016	16
4	3 (shared)	Tunisia	2012	16
5	3 (shared)	Oman	2016	16
6	6 (shared)	United Arab Emirates	2016	17
7	6 (shared)	Kuwait	2004	17
8	8 (shared)	Bahrain	2016	19
9	8 (shared)	Somalia	1987	19
10	8 (shared)	Djibouti	2011	19
11	11	Saudi Arabia	2016	20
12	12	Iraq	2005	22
13	13 (shared)	Libya	2003	24
14	13 (shared)	Egypt	2014	24
15	15 (shared)	Algeria	2016	26
16	15 (shared)	Comoros	2014	26
17	17 (shared)	Morocco	2016	29
18	17 (shared)	West Bank and Gaza (State of Palestine)	2016	29
19	19	Yemen	2007	32
20	20	Mauritania	2013	43
21	21	Sudan	2015	50
22	22	Syria	2015	64
Average				24.82

Table 3 has a subset list of the countries given in the previous table, where only the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are retained. These six particular countries are not only close to each other geographically, but also share similar cultural-economic-climatic conditions, and are frequently studied as one region (Eltayib et al., 2023; Rawson et al., 2023). The average SFR for them based on the latest World Bank data is 17.00. The Sultanate of Oman has the second smallest SFR among these six countries, but they all have smaller SFR values than the average of all the 22 Arab countries.

Table 3. SFR values for GCC countries in the World Bank Open Data.

Index	Rank (by SFR, lower SFR is better)	Arab country	Year of latest SFR	Latest SFR (ascending)
1	1	Qatar	2016	13
2	2	Oman	2016	16
3	3 (shared)	United Arab Emirates	2016	17
4	3 (shared)	Kuwait	2004	17
5	5	Bahrain	2016	19
6	6	Saudi Arabia	2016	20
Average				17.00

3.3. SFR benchmark for Oman

When combining the latest available SFR for Oman or for Omani HEIs covered here (from the World Bank Open Data, from the 2024 edition of QS profiles of HEIs, and from the 2024 edition of THE ranking results), an overall average was found to be 19.04. This is taken to be the benchmark SFR value for Oman. This is the average of 13 SFR values (one value from WB, seven values from QS, and five values from THE). The details of these SFR values are shown in Figure 2. For each SFR value in the figure, either the Omani HEI acronym is written (for the QS or THE data) or the ‘WB’ acronym is written (for the World Bank data). For each SFR value in the figure, the ranking edition year (for the QS or THE data) or the latest update year (for the WB data) is provided, as well as the year in which the SFR value was announced (for the QS or THE data) or the actual year to which the SFR value corresponds (for the WB data) between square brackets. The latter year is probably more important than the former, because it the actual year of data availability. The smallest SFR value among these 13 Omani values covered here corresponds to A'Sharqiyah University (ASU), which was computed as 6.864 through dividing the reported 1,160 full-time equivalent (FTE) students by the reported 169 FTE faculty staff members. The largest SFR value among these 13 Omani values covered here corresponds to Sohar University (SU), which was computed as 36.753 through dividing the reported 5,366 FTE students by the reported 146 FTE faculty staff members.

Figure 2. The 13 SFR values used to estimate a benchmark SFR value for Oman.

3.4. Dissimilarity between QS and THE

Taking advantage of the presence of four Omani HEIs covered in the present study that have an inferred value for the students-faculty ratio (SFR) from QS rankings and also an assigned SFR value from THE rankings (with the same edition year of 2024), quantitative assessment of the mismatch (if any) between the two ranking services (in terms of the difference in SFR) can be made. These 4 Omani HEIs are: SQU, DU, NUST, and SU. For each of these four HEIs, the QS-based SFR and the other THE-based SFR are compared in Figure 3. In addition, a percentage of relative absolute difference between the two SFR values for each of the four HEIs is displayed in the figure, and this percentage of mismatch is computed as (Marzouk, 2024b) (1) $$\%\mathrm{\text{mismatch}}=\frac{\left|\mathrm{\text{SFR}}\left(\mathrm{\text{QS}}\right)‐\mathrm{\text{SFR}}\left(\mathrm{\text{THE}}\right)\right|}{\mathrm{\text{SFR}}\left(\mathrm{\text{mean}}\right)}$$(1) where $\left|\mathrm{\text{SFR}}\left(\mathrm{\text{QS}}\right)‐\mathrm{\text{SFR}}(\mathrm{\text{THE}})\right|$ is the magnitude of the difference between the two SFR values, and $\mathrm{\text{SFR}}\left(\mathrm{\text{mean}}\right)$ is the arithmetic mean of the same two SFR values.

Figure 3. Comparison between SFR values (QS data versus THE data).

The percentage of mismatch is negligible (less than 1%) for the case of SQU, which increases to 7.44% in the case of DU, and increases further to 18.32% in the case of NUST. The worst mismatch is 25.30%, corresponding to SU. Such mismatch can be attributed to how the number of faculty members are reported by the HEI for the ranking purposes. The definition of SFR according to QS refers to FTE for both the students and the faculty members. On the other hand, the definition for THE does not refer explicitly to FTE faculty members. In addition, the QS team made certain guidelines when estimating the number of either FTE students or FTE faculty. For example, a suggested formula for FTE faculty members was made such that each 3 part-time faculty members are counted as one full-time faculty member (thus, counted as 1 FTE). This formula has an advantage of simplicity, but if the FTE number submitted to the QS team is estimated based on the teaching load as expressed by credit hours of taught courses, for example, then a different number is likely to be obtained. There are also specific QS instructions for dealing with part-time students, online/distance learning students, and exchange (inbound or outbound) students (QS [Quacquarelli Symonds Limited], 2023b). This can also be a source of inconsistency with the THE-based SFR.

3.5. Omani HEIs and QS rankings

This subsection provides additional information that can be of interest to some readers who would like to have details about the ranks received for the Omani HEIs covered here, according to the regional (Arab) version of the QS ranking service.

Table 4 provides the ranks of the seven Omani HEIs that received a rank in the regional Arab version of QS, in its 2024 edition (published in 2023). The table also lists the published total numbers of FTE students and FTE faculty members in the related QS profile page of each of the seven ranked HEIs, which were used to compute the THE-based SFR values given in the present study.

Table 4. Information about 2024 QS-AUR ranks for 7 Omani HEIs covered here.

Index	Omani HEI	2024 QS-AUR rank (total ranked: 223)	FTE students	FTE faculty
1	SQU^*,**	10/223	7,512	811
2	UoN^♠	61–70/223	3,907	399
3	DU	81–90/223	3,299	176
4	NUST^†	101–110/223	3,226	213
5	SU^†	101–110/223	5,366	146
6	GUtech^§	111–120/223	1,906	54
7	ASU^§§	171–200/223	1,160	169
^a

* SQU is the only HEI among the seven Omani QS-AUR-ranked HEIs that also received a global QS rank (in its 2024 edition, published on Tuesday, 27/June/2023), which is 454 / 1,498.  ** SQU was also ranked in the 1st place (nationally, among Omani HEIs) in all the earlier eight editions of QS-AUR (the 2023 edition with 199 ranked Arab HEIs, the 2022 edition with 181 ranked Arab HEIs, the 2021 edition with 160 ranked Arab HEIs, the 2020 edition with 130 ranked Arab HEIs, the 2019 edition with 123 ranked Arab HEIs, the 2018 edition with 146 ranked Arab HEIs, the 2016 edition with 269 ranked Arab HEIs, and the 2015 edition with 100 ranked Arab HEIs – this 2015 edition was the initial edition of QS-AUR, and it was published in 2014. There was no 2017 edition of QS-AUR). ♠ UoN was also ranked in the 2nd place (nationally, among Omani HEIs) in the earlier six editions of QS-AUR (editions of 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018). In the second QS-AUR edition of 2016, it shared the 2nd rank with GUtech (both were in the same ranking tier of: 61–70). In the first QS-AUR edition of 2015, UoN was not ranked.  † NUST and SU fall into the same ranking tier (which is: 101–110), thus the index given (4 for NUST and 5 for SU) here should not be interpreted as related to ranking positions and superiority ordering. NUST is listed before SU because of the alphabetical order of their full names.  § GUtech was ranked in the earlier two editions (edition 2023 and edition 2022) of QS-AUR, but it was not ranked in the QS-AUR editions of 2021, 2020, and 2019, although it was ranked in the second and in the first QS-AUR editions of 2016 and 2015, coming in the 2nd rank immediately after SQU (for the second QS-AUR edition of 2016, GUtech and UoN were together in the same ranking tier of: 61–70). §§ ASU was not ranked in any of the earlier eight editions of QS-AUR. It received a rank for the first time in the 2024 edition (which is the ninth edition).

3.6. Omani HEIs and the rankings

THE has also a regional (Arab) version of HEI rankings, similar to QS. However, the latest edition of that THE regional ranking is the 2023 edition (rather than the 2024 edition as in the case of QS), and it was published on Wednesday 15/November/2023. Table 5 provides information about the 2024 edition of THE global rankings; and the 2023, 2022, and 2021 editions of THE Arab rankings, for the five THE-based Omani HEIs covered in the present study (which are those listed in the 2024 edition of the global THE rankings, either with a rank or without a rank). Only these three editions (2023, 2022, and 2021) of THE Arab rankings were published so far. There are no earlier editions of that regional version of HEIs rankings by THE.

Table 5. Information about global and Arab THE ranks for five Omani HEIs covered here.

Index*	Omani HEI	2024 Global THE rank (1,904 ranked; 769 reporters; 2,673 listed)	2023 Arab THE rank (207 ranked, 106 reporters, 313 listed)	2022 Arab THE rank (169 ranked, 48 reporters, 217 listed)	2021 Arab THE rank (125 ranked, 30 reporters, 155 listed)
1	SQU	601–800/1,904	22/207	26/169	26/125
2	DU	Reporter	101–120/207	121–140/169	Reporter
3	GC	Reporter	Reporter	Reporter	Not listed
4	NUST	Reporter	141–160/207	Reporter	Reporter
5	SU	Reporter	121–140/207	Not listed	Reporter

* For reporter HEIs, this index should be interpreted as just a counter (irrespective of the performance). Reporter HEIs are ordered in THE results alphabetically by their full name.

3.7. Comparing QS and the in terms of the growth of regional (Arab) rankings

The development of Arab HEIs enrollment in the regional Arab version of QS and THE rankings since the introduction of either ranking type is illustrated in Figure 4. QS-AUR has a longer history (nine editions released since its inaugural edition of 2015, released in 2014). It shows consistent increase in enrollment since the fourth edition (edition year 2016), after a big drop between the 2016 (2nd) edition and the subsequent 2018 (3rd) edition. THE-AUR started at a much later time than QS-AUR, with its inaugural edition being the 2021 edition (released in 2021, on Tuesday, 27/July/2021). However, THE-AUR enrollment size grew at a faster rate, although its latest edition (2023 edition, released in 2023) has slightly fewer ranked HEIs than the latest QS-AUR edition (2024 edition, released in 2023).

Figure 4. Historical records of the number of Arab HEIs ranked in QS and THE Arab regional rankings.

4. Discussion

The estimated Omani higher education students-faculty ratio (SFR) was 19. With about 50% suggested margin, a value of 30 may be adopted for Omani higher education institutions (HEIs) as an upper bound for suitable students-faculty interaction. This means that universities or university colleges in the Sultanate of Oman with SFR ≤30 may be considered suitable in terms of staff size (not considered in a condition of academic understaffing).

Compared to the other 21 Arab countries or to the other five GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries, the Sultanate of Oman appears to have a favorable below-average SFR. Compared to previously released average SFR values for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) counties, and other average SFR values for the majority of the European Union countries, SFR in Oman seems to be mildly higher (but not very different).

5. Conclusions

In the present study, public secondary data from different reputable sources were analyzed in order to make an evidence-based recommendation with respect to the students-faculty ratio (SFR) in higher education institutions (HEIs) within the Sultanate of Oman. In addition, auxiliary information and analysis about three popular ranking services (QS: Quacquarelli Symonds, THE: Times Higher Education, and ARWU: Academic Ranking of World Universities – Shanghai Ranking) were provided, focusing on Omani higher education institutions.

The estimation of Omani SFR was based on averaging collected values for the following entities:

Sultan Qaboos University (SQU)

Dhofar University (DU)

National University of Science and Technology (NUST)

Sohar University (SU)

University of Nizwa (UoN)

German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech)

A'Sharqiyah University (ASU)

Gulf College (GC)

Oman (as one country)

The dissimilarity in SFR values between those based on QS data (2024 edition) and those based on THE data (2024 edition) was quantified for all the four applicable Omani HEIs, which are: SQU, DU, NUST, and SU. This showed that a mismatch is possible between QS-based SFR and THE-based SFR for the same HEI and same edition year.

Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) is the only Omani HEI that received a global rank in the 2024 edition (published in 2023) of the two independent London-based ranking services: QS (454/1,498) and THE (601–800/1,904). It is also the only Omani HEI that was listed in the Shanghai-based ranking service: Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU, or Shanghai Ranking) since its inception in 2023. This was in the annual editions of 2019, 2021, and 2022.

In the last three annual editions of the regional Arab rankings of either QS or THE, the number of ranked Arab HEIs has been always increasing. The increase rate over two years for QS was 23.2% (from 181 to 223), but was noticeably larger as 65.6% for THE (from 125 to 207).

Through the presented findings, HEIs in Oman now have quantitative guidelines about the students-faculty ratio (SFR), which can be useful for internal use within the HEI or for extremal use when preparing an Institutional Standards Assessment Application (ISAA) for submission to the national (Omani) authority for the sake of obtaining or renewing the national (Omani) institutional accreditation or for obtaining other international accreditation or third-party institutional assessment. In addition, the auxiliary data provided about different global ranking options can help Omani and Arab HEIs (seeking to apply for obtaining such an institutional rank) in selecting the ranking service (from the three ones covered), that suits the HEI.

Ethical approval

This research does not involve humans, animals, or environmental hazards.

Abbreviations
ARWU	=	Academic Ranking of World Universities (or Shanghai Ranking)
ASU	=	A’Sharqiyah University, a private university in the Sultanate of Oman (ASU, 2024), established in 2009. It is located in the wilayat (second-level administrative division) of Ibra, which is in the governorate (first-level administrative division) of A’Sharqiyah North, forming its main zone. Since 2011, the Sultanate of Oman has been comprising 11 governorates (Marzouk, 2021a)
AUR	=	Arab region University Rankings
DU	=	Dhofar University, a private university in the Sultanate of Oman (DU, 2024), established in 2004. It is located in the wilayat (second-level administrative division) of Salalah, which is in the governorate (first-level administrative division) of Dhofar, forming its main zone
Eurostat	=	the statistical office of the European Union
FTE	=	full-time equivalent
GC	=	Gulf College, a private university college (GC, 2024). It originated as a professional and vocational training provider in the Sultanate of Oman, established in 1990. In 2003, it received governmental approval to transform its activity into a university college. It is located in Muscat (the capital of Oman). As of February 2024, it has two main academic entities, which are: The Faculty of Computing Sciences, and the Faculty of Business and Management Studies
GCC	=	Gulf Cooperation Council (a regional political and economic union of six Arab countries: United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, State of Qatar, and State of Kuwait)
GUtech	=	German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech, 2024), a private university in the Sultanate of Oman, established in 2007. It is located in Muscat (the capital of Oman). It is affiliated with RWTH Aachen University in Germany
HEI	=	higher education institution
LAS	=	League of Arab States (informally called “Arab League”)
NUST (or NU)	=	National University of Science and Technology, a private university in the Sultanate of Oman (NUST, 2024), established in 2018 through merging two specialized university colleges in Oman, which are: Caledonian College of Engineering (CCE), and Oman Medical College (OMC). Later in 2022, NUST acquired the International Maritime College Oman (IMCO) from Asyad Group, which is a governmental company acting as Oman’s global integrated logistics provider (Asyad Group, 2024). In the same year of 2022, NUST started a new college (College of Advanced Technology, or CAT). The Caledonian College of Engineering (CCE) was the first engineering private university college in Oman. It was established in 1996, with academic partnership with the Glasgow Caledonian University (Scotland, UK). The Oman Medical College (OMC) was the first private medical university college in Oman. It was established in 2011, with academic partnership with West Virginia University (West Virginia, USA). NUST has campuses in Sohar and in Muscat
OAAAQA	=	Oman Authority for Academic Accreditation and Quality Assurance of Education (OAAAQA, 2024)
OECD	=	Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
QS	=	Quacquarelli Symonds. A British company (Quacquarelli Symonds Limited) specialized in higher education analytics and services, such as rankings of higher education institutions. It has offices worldwide, with the head office located in London
Reporter	=	A higher education institution that submitted data for receiving a Times Higher Education (THE) rank, but that institution was found not meeting the criteria for appearing in the rankings results with an assigned rank. Despite this, as a recognition for such institutions, a status of “reporter” is given to them, and they are listed (but without a rank) along with the successfully ranked higher education institutions
SRC	=	ShanghaiRanking Consultancy
SFR	=	students-faculty ratio
SQU	=	Sultan Qaboos University, a public university in the Sultanate of Oman (SQU, 2024), established in 1986 (its idea was announced earlier in 1980, its construction started in 1982). It is located in Muscat (the capital of Oman). SQU is the oldest and most-prestigious HEI in Oman. It is named after Qaboos bin Said, the former Sultan (sovereign, king) of Oman (from 1970 to 2020)
SU	=	Sohar University, a private university in the Sultanate of Oman (SU, 2024), established in 2001. It is the first private university in the Sultanate of Oman. It is located in the wilayat (second-level administrative division) of Sohar (or Suhar), which is in the governorate (first-level administrative division) of Al Batinah North, and it is the governorate’s center
THE	=	Times Higher Education. It is a British fortnightly (every 2 weeks) magazine based in London. It focuses on news and topics related to higher education. THE also refers to the owner company (THE World Universities Insights Limited), located in London. The company provides resources and solutions related to higher education, such as rankings of higher education institutions
UIS	=	UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Institute for Statistics
UNESCO	=	United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN)
University college	=	A type of higher education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman (OAAAQA, 2013). It is a standalone college, rather than a college within a university. A university college can have academic subdivisions under it. A university college in Oman shares some characteristics of an ordinary university, such as involvement in research. A university college can offer degree programs up to the master’s degree (but not doctoral degrees), and should offer programs in at least two broad fields of study
UoN	=	University of Nizwa, a private university in the Sultanate of Oman (UoN, 2024), established in 2004. It is located in the wilayat (second-level administrative division) of Nizwa, which is in the governorate (first-level administrative division) of Al-Dakhliya, and it is the governorate’s center
WB	=	World Bank, a term that refers collectively to two international financial organizations: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the International Development Association (IDA). Both organizations, as well as three other financial organizations, are owned by the World Bank Group, which is an international financial institution that aims to reduce poverty and support sustainable development. The World Bank is headquartered in Washington, DC; USA (and the other three other international financial organizations of the World Bank Group are also located there)
WUR	=	World University Rankings.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Publicly available data were analyzed in this study, as described by the relevant cited references or the main text.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Osama Marzouk

Osama Marzouk is an Assistant Professor (the British equivalent is “Lecturer”) of Mechanical Engineering, with concurrent non-teaching duties related to institutional accreditation in higher education, higher education program development, and quality assurance in higher education.