Comparing apples, oranges and dates in education sector

"It's apples, oranges and dates," an Oman Ministry of Education expert once said, referring to three well-known but quite different and, therefore, relatively hard-to-compare school qualifications pursued by Omani students. By 'dates,' the expert meant the General Education Diploma Certificate (GED), the national qualification taught at the Sultanate of Oman's government and private bilingual schools in Arabic or English. Like delicious Omani dates, the GED is a local 'product.' Meanwhile, the 'apples and oranges' in her story were the International Baccalaureate, commonly known as IB, and Advanced Level, also known as A Levels.

Before I explain why the MoE expert came up with a localised idiom to highlight a challenge in giving Omani school students a 100 per cent equal opportunity to apply for undergraduate scholarships competitively, let me first provide some context. The Ministry of Education (MoE), overseeing the Sultanate of Oman's Post-Basic Education sector, treats IB and A Levels as ‘stand-alone’ international school qualifications. Both IB, especially its diploma pathway, and A Levels are designed to prepare students for direct entry to an undergraduate course taught at research-intensive universities around the world, provided such an academic journey suits their learning styles. Meanwhile, Omani students also pursue other reputed and rigorous school qualifications, such as the American high school diploma, which the MoE treats as the 'equivalent' to the GED. That does not mean such qualifications are considered to be the same as the GED in terms of content or academic rigour, but it does mean they are not treated as 'stand-alone' international qualifications.

The ‘apples, oranges, and dates’ remark was made years ago during a meeting between representatives from the MoE and what was then known as the Ministry of Higher Education as we discussed the ‘conversion table,’ often mislabelled as an equivalency table. The Higher Education Admissions Centre (HEAC) uses this essential tool to convert school grades obtained by mainly A-level and IB students into percentages. Within their own ‘habitat,’ A Level grades are expressed in letters from E to A*, while the IB subjects are graded on a scale of 1 to 7, with both A* and 7 representing a highly exceptional achievement. Why does the HEAC need to convert A Level and IB grades? Well, GED grades are expressed in percentages, while the HEAC manages an electronic scholarship system that aims to unbiasedly ‘screen and select’ applicants based on their academic merit expressed in percentages. The objective is that, by and large, all Omani school leavers, regardless of their type of school qualification, should be given an equal opportunity to competitively apply for the same undergraduate scholarships, provided they meet the eligibility criteria that have mostly been adapted to their qualification (this was once one of my tasks).

However, as mentioned, IB and A Levels, and qualifications like the American high school diploma, are known for their academic rigour, making it a challenge for even the brightest students to obtain the highest possible grades in all subjects. The IB diploma pathway is for well-rounded students who must graduate in six subjects across different subject groups and complete a rigorous core curriculum. In contrast, A Levels allow more flexibility in choosing a combination of subjects and a focus on subject-specific depth. A Level students sit for final exams in fewer subjects compared to IB students. GED, although known for its broad curriculum and strong Maths and Science, is not known for its academic ‘maturity’ and takes one year less to complete. For this reason, GED students who want to pursue their higher undergraduate studies must first complete an academic preparatory year, often referred to as a foundation programme, except in the United States of America and Canada, and sometimes also have to pursue a pre-sessional English language course.

To solve the ‘apples, oranges, and dates’ challenge and streamline scholarship application processes, my former colleagues and I once pitched the Direct Entry Scholarship, also known as the DES proposal. Applicants for this scholarship were no longer primarily assessed by an electronic system based on their school grades. What counted was an official letter from an approved higher education institution confirming that an applicant was offered a place on an undergraduate degree course. Institutions call this a direct entry based on their holistic screening process, during which they assess a student’s capability based on their grades and other factors, including a personal statement and aptitude tests. In my next column, I will explain the philosophy behind the Direct Entry Scholarship more.