Dissecting Oman, GCC and global university assessment and employability issues and related blind spots and pitfalls

The main thrust of this research was to contribute to theory building in the Teaching, Theory of Assessment and Employability (TTAE) and their applicability in Oman, GCC and the world at large looking at assessment and employability issues. The research explored gaps in knowledge regarding this theory as a contribution to knowledge, and in this instance, Oman, GCC and global higher education industry was the epicentre of the research and was expected to meet foremost the needs of industry and government as employers of graduated students, then the needs of students and society in knowledge and innovation. This research was conceptual research using literature review only. A constraint is anything that prevents the system from achieving its goal like poor assessment methods, quality issues, inappropriate teaching and learning methods, poor funding, high teaching loads, unattractive research prizes and incentives, low salaries that drive away talented academics and others, and finally poor resourcing. The main reasons giving rise to this research were the facts that some colleges and universities in the world faced challenges in assessment and graduate employability and Oman was no exception. The main objective of this research was to contribute to theory building in the Teaching, Theory of Assessment and Employability (TTAE) and identify critical success factors for efficiency in service delivery excellence to students, industry and society in line with market orientation philosophy. The secondary objective was employability of graduates as the end product, maximising knowledge creation and innovation. Qualitative research method in the form of conceptual research was used in this research. The key findings were that assessment was a continuous learning exercise for excellence, unfair assessment, balancing classes with free time, some uncommitted students, incompetent faculty, outdated syllabus, students from high schools not being college ready, graduates not matching industry requirements, poor internet service, lack of comprehensive assessment training programmes for faculty as capacity building and petty students were the issues at hand affecting assessment and employability.