The Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA – formerly the Oman Accreditation Council (OAC)) has developed a two-stage institutional accreditation system (Quality Audit followed by Standards Assessment). The system is designed to support higher education institutions (HEIs) with their continuous quality improvement efforts and to provide a means of holding HEIs accountable to society. The first quality audit was carried out in 2008. Since then, over twenty six public and private HEIs in Oman have been through the quality audit process and over twenty Quality Audit Reports have been published on the OAAA website. The authors provide a background to the current external quality assurance system in the higher education sector in Oman and focus in particular on the implementation of the quality audit process. This includes the support offered to HEIs in carrying out their selfreviews, the development of the guidelines in the Quality Audit Manual, the establishment of the Register of External Reviewers, the publication of Quality Audit Reports and ongoing feedback from stakeholders. This paper provides an opportunity to reflect on the lessons learnt so far and the extent to which the OAAA has shown commitment to embedding its own culture of continuous improvement.

The Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA – formerly the Oman Accreditation Council (OAC)) has developed a two-stage institutional accreditation system (Quality Audit followed by Standards Assessment). The system is designed to support higher education institutions (HEIs) with their continu...