General Goals of GFP

According to the Ministry of Higher Education and Oman Academic Accreditation Authority guidelines, the following are the General Foundation Program objectives which aim at preparing students to do the learning activities independently, developing their critical thinking skills, and applying the skills they have acquired.

1. To conduct entrance and exit level exams for students seeking admission to post-secondary and university degree programs offered in Al-Buraimi University College.
2. To help students acquire adequate proficiency in the English Language and prepare them for their undergraduate studies at the academic departments.
3. To expose students to basic mathematical concepts and logical analytical concepts and to apply their knowledge in both technical and business arenas.
4. To enable students to use and practice basic computer skills that help them to handle computers, internet and other technical devices.
5. To prepare students in their study skills and learning patterns through note-taking, searching and collecting for information from different sources, doing projects and writing assignments that help them in their academic studies.

GFP Learning Outcome Standards

Upon completion of the foundation program, a student should be able to perform the following tasks in the four areas of study: English, Mathematics, Information Technology and Study Skills.

1. English Language:

Based on the Oman Academic Standards for General Foundation Programs, the aim of this area is to extend the English language skills of the student to enable him/her to participate actively in their postsecondary or higher education studies.
Having successfully completed the foundation program of English Language, a student will be able to satisfactorily:

1. Participate in a discussion on a topic relevant to their studies by asking questions, agreeing/disagreeing, asking for clarification, sharing information, expressing and asking for opinions.
2. Paraphrase information (orally or in writing) from a written or spoken text or from graphically presented data.
3. Prepare and deliver a talk of at least 5 minutes. Use library resources in preparing the talk, speak clearly and confidently, make eye contact and use body language to support the delivery of ideas. Respond confidently to questions.
4. Write texts of a minimum of 250 words, showing control of layout, organization, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, grammar and vocabulary.
5. Produce a written report of a minimum of 500 words showing evidence of research, note taking, review and revision of work, paraphrasing, summarizing, use of quotations and use of references.
6. Take notes and respond to questions about the topic, main ideas, details and opinions or arguments from an extended listening text (e.g. lecture, news broadcast).

1. Follow spoken instructions in order to carry out a task with a number of stages.
2. Listen to a conversation between two or more speakers and be able to answer questions in relation to context, relationship between speakers, register (e.g. formal or informal).
3. Read a one to two page text and identify the main idea(s) and extract specific information in a given period of   time.
4. Read an extensive text broadly relevant to the student’s area of study (minimum three pages) and respond to questions that require analytical skills, e.g. prediction, deduction, inference.

2. Mathematics:

Having successfully completed the foundation program of Basic Mathematics a student will be able to satisfactorily:

1. Describe the set of real numbers, all its subsets and their relationship, including closure properties for the four basic arithmetic operations where applicable.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the exponent laws and apply them to simplify expression and manipulate fractions.
3. Understand ratio, decimals, percentages, measurements and conversion from one unit to another.
4. Simplify rational expression and rationalize numerators or denominators.
5. Translate worded problems into mathematical expression and model simple real life problems with equations and inequalities.
6. Understand geometric concept such as equation of circle, perpendicular, parallel and tangent lines.
7. Use the three types of symmetry of an equation to sketch its graph.
8. Perform operation on polynomials and manipulate numerical and polynomial expressions and solve 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree equations.
9. Use the quadratic formula to find roots of a second-degree polynomial.
10. Know the relationship between degree and radian measure of an angle and find the length of circular arc and the area of a sector.

3. Information Technology:

According to the Oman Academic Standards for General Foundation Programs a HEI which issues an accredited ICDL certificate and uses it for the GFP will be deemed to have met the IT program standards and will automatically pass the assessment of its Computing program. Al-Buraimi University College, through its Training Centre, issues an accredited IC3 certificate which is used to meet the standards of Foundation Computing Program. The IC3 program is supervised and directed by the Training Centre director and IC3 trainers.

4. General Study Skills (GSS):

The aim of this area is to equip students with fundamental study and academic skills needed for post-secondary or higher education studies. According to the Oman Academic Standards for General Foundation Programs (point 6.1 page 25), “General Study Skills may be taught either as specific course/s, or may be embedded into each of the English, Mathematics and Computing courses”. The UFP has opted for the second choice and the General Study skills are embedded all across the three foundation programs. The learning outcomes of the GSS are clearly stated within each course syllabus of all the foundation courses