Muscat – A recent academic study has called for renewed focus on the humanities in Oman’s higher education system, warning that an overemphasis on technology risks undermining the country’s efforts to build a balanced and sustainable knowledge economy.
The study argues that development should not be driven by applied sciences alone, but must place people, values and national identity at the centre of the process. It is authored by Dr Mariam bint Ali al Hinai, Lecturer at University of Technology and Applied Sciences Muscat, and Dr Mohammad Ali al Belushi, Associate Professor of Heritage Management at Sultan Qaboos University, and published in the Journal of Arabian Studies.
Titled Reimagining the Knowledge Economy: A Critical Call to Reposition the Humanities in Omani Higher Education, the research says prevailing approaches to the knowledge economy often equate progress with scientific and technological innovation, while overlooking the role of the humanities and social sciences in developing critical thinking, ethical awareness and cultural continuity.
The study points to a gap between national policy frameworks, including Oman Vision 2040 and the Cultural Strategy 2021–2040, which emphasise culture, creativity and identity, and current practices in higher education institutions, where scientific, technical and business disciplines tend to receive greater priority.
An analysis of faculty distribution and student enrolment data in Oman and abroad shows that the humanities continue to have a notable presence, particularly in education, social and cultural fields. However, their share has declined in comparison with engineering and technical disciplines, especially among students studying overseas.
The authors stress that strengthening the humanities is not an academic luxury, but a strategic requirement for achieving sustainable development goals. They argue that the humanities contribute to building an informed and creative society and help ensure balance between scientific advancement and ethical and social values.
The study calls for education and research policies that promote stronger integration between the humanities and scientific disciplines. It recommends the development of interdisciplinary curricula, increased institutional and research support, and the inclusion of the humanities in national innovation systems.
According to Mariam, the research forms part of an intellectual project launched in 2022 to reassess the role of the humanities and knowledge production in Omani higher education. She said a growing market-driven approach has redefined education as a purely economic tool, measured mainly by profitability, rather than by its contribution to human and social development.
She noted that this approach has weakened local and humanistic knowledge and created ethical and intellectual gaps in the understanding of higher education’s role. A sustainable knowledge economy, she said, depends not only on technology, but also on people, values and identity, as outlined in Oman Vision 2040.
Belushi said the dominance of technological approaches in development and education policies risks reducing culture and heritage to assets treated mainly as investment resources, detached from their historical and social context. This, he said, strips culture of its human dimension.
The real challenge in the era of digital transformation, he said, lies not in acquiring technology, but in guiding it ethically and culturally – a role the study identifies as central to the humanities.
