Strategic Goals
The Open University of Somalia aspires to be among the great universities that endeavor to advance the well-being of the Federal Republic of Somalia and the global community through the creation and dissemination of knowledge using state-of-the-art technology. Thus, OUS needs to transform itself into a great distance education, online and research university for a rich flow of ideas, innovation, and graduates from a wide variety of disciplines. With commitment to our vision, mission and core values, we are determined to:
- Provide high-quality academic programmes through innovative pedagogies to meet society’s need for talent;
- Enrich our students’ learning experience, both within and beyond the curriculum, for personal and career development;
- Encourage students to participate in mainland and overseas exchange activities to understand more about their country and to broaden their international horizons;
- Nature an environment conducive to academic research to complement teaching and learning;
- Develop our university facilities into a warm and welcoming campus to support the growing focus in full-time face-to-face teaching;
- Strengthen our financial sustainability through enhanced efficiency and effective deployment of resources in areas of strategic priority.
Strategic Development
To achieve our goals, 5 focused areas of priority have been identified for strategic development
1. Premier Quality Teaching
As a university that is committed to providing quality higher education, we attach the utmost value to teaching and students’ learning experience. Innovative and student-centered approaches to teaching and learning will be adopted
Strengthen our pedagogical initiatives
To strengthen the academic quality of our teaching staff and improve student services through the implementation of a suite of quality enhancement measures in the next three years, which include: engaging experienced scholars as academic consultants; and exploring various pedagogical initiatives to improve educational delivery, such as the ‘Independent Learning & Study Skills Pack
Emphasize student centered teaching and learning
To strengthen student motivation and engagement by emphasizing a student-centered approach in our teaching and learning processes as good teaching depends on dynamic interactions with students. We will enhance our student feedback channel for insights into how teaching and learning may be improved.
To enhance students’ language skills to prepare them for success in a globalized and knowledgebased society by: making every effort to enhance the all-round language capability of students, including communication and presentation skills; and cultivating and fostering an environment conducive to the use of English on campus
2. A Rewarding and Fulfilling Learning Experience
Enable Success and Enrich Life’ is central to our mission in student development. We will work handin-hand with students to cultivate a most attractive university life. The enriched experience will inspire students to grow and develop personally, enhance a stronger sense of belonging and, most importantly, promote success in realizing their full potential.
Enhance student engagement and development
To strengthen the system of academic advising and student mentoring for: promoting students’ awareness of the aims of university education; nurturing them with life skills for university study; enlightening their academic, career and life goals; and empowering them to think logically and critically, and develop plans to achieve their goals.
3. Research Capacity Enhancement
Even though the OUS’s main mission is teaching, we consider research an inseparable part of our academic activities as research informs and complements teaching.
Enhance research capacity in strategic niche areas
To encourage academic colleagues to participate in research in selected niche areas, we have allocated extra resources for academic units to appoint Academic Consultants.
To continue the implementation of a number of incentive schemes to motivate colleagues to participate in research.
To continue to improve the research infrastructure, strengthen resource support to staff in terms of both time and personnel, and reward staff for research effort.
To focus on applied research to complement our course offerings as our academic programmes are more practical and career oriented, with the aim of research informing teaching.
4. Excellence in Administration and Governance
In a competitive environment and with increased students’ expectations, self-financing institutions are now facing increased pressure to demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness. We seek to adopt more innovative approaches to efficiency, which not only help to make savings, but also enhance effectiveness across all administrative and academic activities.
Strive for prudent financial management
To secure a steady income stream and proactively manage costs as it is important for the OUS, as a self-financing institution, to maintain financial sustainability.
To continue to adopt prudent management practices to enhance efficiency and prioritize resources in alignment with our strategic objectives. Strive for prudent financial management.
To deliver a flexible, efficient and responsive budget management system to cope with the changing environment and budget needs.
To explore the use of effective analytics to help develop new initiatives to enhance administrative and professional services.
Enhance the quality of our university governance
To maintain and improve our internal audit, and procurement/ administration systems and procedures. To facilitate the participation of University Council members in university policy matters and enhance the communication between Council members and the University. Enhance the quality of our university governance To develop peer networks for the sharing of best practices among institutions as we believe that benchmarking, both internal and external, is a useful tool for driving efficiency. To ensure the University upholds the principle of transparency and promotes its social and environmental responsibilities.