Caledonian College of Engineering (CCE) honoured 325 (Masters, Honours and Degree) students at the 17th Graduation Ceremony held in the beautiful and opulent surroundings of Muscat InterContinental Hotel lawns.  CCE is affiliated with Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) in the UK and Vellore Institute of Technology University in India (VIT University) and thereby offers four-year honours degree programmes approved by the Ministry of Higher Education. The ceremony was presided over by His Highness Sayyid Kamil Fahad Al-Said, Assistant Secretary-General at the Cabinet of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers; many dignitaries, parents and well-wishers were invited to support the college and recognise this year’s college graduates. The college awarded seven Masters Degrees, 206 honours degrees and 109 degrees.

The degree awards were conferred on behalf of Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) by Professor Pamela Gillies, the Vice Chancellor of GCU. Prof Gillies wrote of the affiliation agreement between GCU and CCE that “Caledonian College of Engineering is a truly exceptional example of a successful international collaboration. Our longstanding partnership demonstrates how our nations and our academics, across cultures and heritages, can work well together to deliver a first class educational experience that will enrich the lives of our students.”

In addition, special awards were presented to four students: a Gold Medal for the highest level of academic excellence; the Dr Bill Laurie Award for outstanding contribution to the college and student community by a male student; and the Dr Elspeth Laurie award for outstanding contribution by a female student.

Celebrating its ‘Crystal Birthday’ this year after 15 years of operation, CCE is the largest private engineering college in Oman and this year was rated as the top private educational establishment within the Sultanate by the prestigious Business Today top brand survey. The college also won the Green Award for Education in July and the Asia Award for the best Educational Institute in Engineering in October.  The college offers UK university diplomas, bachelor degrees, bachelor honours degrees, and master degrees. It also offers a degree and masters programme in chemical engineering through the highly respected VIT University in India.

A Caledonian degree is distinguished by the high importance given to the industrial and commercial relevance of the programmes, monitored through interaction between the college and industries. In addition to work place experience, CCE also emphasises the need for soft skill training in all programmes, something described by the Acting Dean, Dr Ahmed Al-Bulushi, as a unique aspect of a Caledonian degree:  “Students need to have the basic subject knowledge but we believe they also need development as individuals so that they can work effectively and operate in teams, across disciplines.”  To this end, professional development has been embedded into all engineering programmes at Caledonian since 2004. Indeed, through the establishment of a dedicated department that specifically develops the soft skills needed for students to succeed in the workplace, Caledonian is a sector leader in this respect.

CCE has a high employment success rate with over 80% of college students entering employment or further studies.