New Facility Expands Services in Oman

Amideast’s new home in Muscat is benefiting a variety of individuals this summer, from young campers and aspiring entrepreneurs to American students honing Arabic language skills. Their numbers are sharply higher, too, thanks to the recent move to the new state-of-the-art facility in Airport Heights. With four floors of classrooms, computer labs, testing facilities, conference and meeting rooms, a library for educational advising, a student lounge, and staff offices, the facility has space to accommodate myriad activities that reflect Amideast’s expanding scope in the Sultanate.
Activities at the Summer Kids Camp included exploration of geography using materials from National Geographic.

Amideast/Oman moved in at the start of this year, leaving the location in Qurum it had called home since Amideast opened its doors in Oman in 2008. “We have quadrupled the traffic in our premises by moving to this new facility,” said Sarah Jackson, Amideast’s country director in Oman. “It has been both rewarding and energizing to provide programs and services to such a diverse population, ranging from young ‘campers’ to Fulbright scholars.

The summer months have already welcomed a dozen men and women enrolled in a special “Starting a Business” course funded by AIG at the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute, which is housed in the facility. Additionally a Kids Summer Camp has enabled children ages 8–15 to use their summer break to strengthen English language skills while also learning about geography, science and the environment in a fun-filled setting.

Amideast/Oman has also welcomed American high school students in an intensive Arabic language course funded by the U.S. Department of State; Omani high school students taking part in the summer session of the Global Leaders Program; Fulbright scholarship recipients preparing to depart for the United States to begin classes in the fall; Royal Oman Police employees taking a special “prison English” course; participants in evening English language courses; and students utilizing the EducationUSA advising services. Meanwhile, the new, high-tech testing labs have kept busy with administrations of the TOEFL exam, while breakout rooms hosted tutoring sessions.

In 2008, Amideast became the first U.S. nongovernmental organization to open an office in the Sultanate. Since then, the spirit of partnership with the Ministry of Education, evident at the outset, has continued to grow, and with it expansion of programs in support of Oman’s development goals. Amideast looks forward to continuing this expansion with new workforce development initiatives incorporating English language courses, professional skills training, career guidance seminars, and tailored job readiness classes, as well as a variety of entrepreneurship workshops, offered in partnership with the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute and corporate sponsors in support of Oman’s vision of a vibrant SME sector.