Dipra Jha, assistant professor of practice in Hospitality, Restaurant and Tourism Management, and Linda Young, associate professor of practice in Nutrition and Health Sciences, recently traveled to Oman to deliver a workshop on instructional best practices at Oman Tourism College. The full-day workshop Sept. 29 was attended by 45 faculty from various disciplines and is part of UNL’s ongoing international engagement in the Middle East.

The workshop is a result of discussions between UNL’s Hospitality, Restaurant & Tourism Management program and Oman Tourism College to collaborate on teaching and learning. Jha and Young provided information on student-centered teaching and activities relevant to skill development in graduates. They shared UNL teaching best practices with Omani colleagues, including program assessment and evaluation techniques. They also learned about the state of hospitality and tourism education in Oman.

Oman is one of the eight priority countries identified by UNL for international engagement. The university is home to more than 120 Omani students who have formed an Omani student organization. The organization will help other UNL students learn more about Oman and its culture.

Established in 2001 by the Government of Oman, Oman Tourism College is the pre-eminent institution for education, training and development in tourism, hospitality, events, culinary arts and languages. The college is located in Seeb and currently enrolls 450 students on a range of specialized undergraduate and professional courses. Tourism in Oman is experiencing robust year-to-year growth and the government of Oman is heavily investing in tourism-related infrastructure, as well as human capital development.

“We are delighted to have professors Jha and Young visit Oman Tourism College and engage with our faculty about teaching best practices," said Dr. Shoba Zachariah, assistant dean (academic) of the college. "We hope workshops such as these will pave the way for additional collaborations between our institutions.”

Tourism is Nebraska’s third largest earner of revenue from outside the state, after agriculture and manufacturing, bringing in excess of $4 billion annually and supporting 45,600 jobs. Hospitality, Restaurant and Tourism Management is one of the fastest growing majors at UNL and resides jointly in the College of Education and Human Sciences and the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.