Muscat: NOV 9 2026, His Highness Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, today presided over the celebration marking the 40th anniversary of the opening of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) under the theme “An Enduring Impact,” held in the Grand Hall of the Sultan Qaboos University Cultural Centre.
His Highness Sayyid Dr. Fahd bin Al-Julanda al Said, SQU Vice Chancellor, delivered an address on the occasion. He said the celebration honours a purely national idea that was launched four decades ago, when the wise vision of the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said materialized in the conviction that the inevitable prerequisite for building nations is building people.
His Highness added that the University’s opening heralded a new phase of academic qualification, knowledge empowerment, and openness to future horizons, so that it would serve as a support for the nation in its stages of development and a source of cadres capable of contributing across all fields.
His Highness explained that the celebration is an occasion for gratitude, recognition, and renewal of commitment. It honours everyone who contributed to the University’s journey, including vice chancellors, faculty, administrators, graduates, students, and partners. It celebrates the academic, research, and community achievements attained, and renews the pledge that the University will remain faithful to its founding mission and continue to fulfil its national duty alongside all educational institutions in the Sultanate of Oman, in accordance with the visions and directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, who has accorded education and research exceptional attention and placed them at the forefront of the renewed renaissance’s priorities.
His Highness noted the generous support the University has received since its founding to the present day, reflected in continuous patronage, institutional empowerment, enhancement of the University’s independence, and the creation of an academic environment conducive to creativity and innovation. He affirmed that this valued trust has been and remains an incentive for greater giving and a responsibility to preserve and develop achievements in a manner befitting the University’s reputation and standing.
The celebration included a documentary film screening titled “Beyond Forty,” which recounts the journey of Sultan Qaboos University over forty years, from the inception of its idea in 1980 to the knowledge, achievement, and enduring impact it has realized in the nation’s journey. The story is told through documents and human memory, exploring the University’s impact on building minds and producing generations that carried its message into the fields of life, so that its story remains greater than its buildings, farther than its boundaries, and too profound to be summarized.
The celebration also included a poetry segment presented by students Ahmed Bati al Shukaili and Al Jawhara Salim al Hasni. The poem, titled “The Radiance of Forty,” was composed by the poet Dr. Said Mohammed al Maktoumi.
His Highness Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham al Said, patron of the occasion, launched the commemorative postage stamp for the 40th anniversary of the University’s opening. The stamp reflects forty years of building people, producing knowledge, and leading the future. The issuance captures this journey in an artistic work that combines the memory of founding with the continuity of giving. It includes a commemorative card bringing together the four stamps in an integrated artistic panel, along with a special first-day cover documenting the occasion through the four stamps bearing the event’s seal.
His Highness Sayyid Theyazin toured the accompanying exhibition “Forty Years of Impact,” which offers an in-depth reading of the University that has evolved from a national project for qualifying competencies into one of the pillars of state-building and a key actor in shaping its future. The exhibition includes several sections, including “Building: Vision and Growth,” “Impact: Enduring Giving,” and “The Future: Shaping Tomorrow.”
The celebration is accompanied by a two-day scientific symposium on Sultan Qaboos University, held under the gracious directive of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, to kick off tomorrow Tuesday.
The scientific symposium reviews four decades of leadership and impact, highlighting the role of Sultan Qaboos University in the economic and social development of the country over the past forty years. It proceeds from the national standing of Sultan Qaboos University as the first university in the Sultanate of Oman and the pivotal role it has played over four decades in building the Omani individual, preparing national competencies, producing knowledge, enhancing research and innovation, contributing to the support of state institutions and their various sectors, serving society, and consolidating its authentic national identity and values.
The celebration carries the theme “An Enduring Impact,” evoking four decades of national, scientific, and intellectual giving and a pioneering journey that has contributed to building people, producing knowledge, and foreseeing the future through an integrated system that made the human being the focus of education, knowledge the pillar of research and innovation, and the future the horizon of development and foresight.
The concept of “building people” comes at the forefront of this impact, as one of the University’s most important roles and missions. Over forty years, it has contributed to preparing generations of Omani competencies who have strengthened various sectors and carried the knowledge, expertise, and experience they acquired into the fields of work, development, and service to the nation.
The production of knowledge has transcended the boundaries of research and studies to partnerships and research projects that have contributed to translating scientific knowledge into applications, decisions, and initiatives with lasting impact, enhancing the University’s presence as an effective partner in the development journey.
The impact also extends to shaping the future through a foresight vision that goes beyond building the present to looking towards what lies beyond, through centres of excellence, future research, innovation programmes, and scientific partnerships that open new horizons within the Sultanate of Oman and abroad.
The ceremony was attended by a number of Their Highnesses and Excellencies, military commanders, members of the State Council and Shura Council, as well as members of the Sultan Qaboos University Council and its former vice chancellors, along with a number of university presidents and the University’s partners from government and private entities and academic and research institutions, as well as University staff, alumni, and students.
