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Update on University of Buraimi
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a.anas



Joined: 24 Jun 2014
Posts: 26
Location: Sudan

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 5:55 am    Post subject: Update on University of Buraimi Reply with quote

check out the edited Wikipedia article on University of Buraimi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Buraimi
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Dr.K.



Joined: 07 Aug 2014
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A.Anas made a post with the title "University of Buraimi: An Academic Dystopia", a few months back, in July 2014. I was impressed with the post for it was written in an illustrative, mostly well-organized, and concise manner. It did not sound like many of the other posts about UoB from previous years--it was not the rant of a disgruntled employee who got screwed out of a paycheck, or a ticket home, or any such things. A.anas wrote up a reasonably objective piece, relaying facts about the status quo at UoB, observed by him, other employees, and students.

Today, a small victory has been won over the lies and pretenses that the University of Buraimi publicizes in order to make itself appear legitimate in they eyes of students, the MoHE, and in the eyes of future employees--which it desperately needs because of the high turnover rate the reality at that place induces. Over the course of the last four months, a.anas and I launched visits to the Buraimi Labor Office, the Buraimi Governor's Office, the Ministry of Higher Education, and wrote several emails to the European Universities with which UoB claimed affiliation. FINALLY, UoB has been forced to remove any and all mention of its non-existent affiliations with these universities from its website. This happened despite the fact that, as recently as September 4th, the International Office of the University of Vienna issued the following statement:

Dear Prof. K,

Thank you very much for your e-mail.

The University of Vienna has had a Service Contract with Buraimi University, which has expired. Currently the University of Vienna has no agreements or other contractual activities with Buraimi University.

It is at the discretion of Buraimi University to publish information on its website.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. L. M.
Head of the International Office

Needless to say, I was stunned by this indifference towards the abuse of their name by an unaccredited diploma mill.

In the end, for me, the big question is: has anything relevant changed, as far as the horrid teaching, working, and studying conditions at UoB are concerned? The answer is a resounding "NO!", sadly. But what we have here is an indication that small victories are possible. For those serious about education, and serious about their professional integrity, Dylan Thomas's line "Do not go gentle into that good night" has borne fruit right here.

The fight is not over yet: soon, AlJazeera will receive a DVD with data documenting over 15 violations of Omani Law committed by UoB--with a pitch for an investigative report into corruption in the Higher Education system throughout the region (anyone who has proof they are willing to provide, incriminating other institutions, please PM me). Said DVD will also include evidence of copyright violations worth hundreds of thousands of OR in book sales--and this DVD will find its way to the head offices of 8 publishers whose books I have identified as being copied illegally by the recently created "CopyCenter" at UoB.

Something tells me that I should wait with these steps until AFTER I have left the country. Wink Wink
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omanoman



Joined: 11 Jun 2014
Posts: 140

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 4:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

good luck with your one man / one woman crusade. My spidey sense tells me that this thread has been created and then endorsed by the same person, a common enough tactic in the digital world.

Not defending UoB but I know that there are plenty of people there teaching quite well and working within the limits and conditions imposed upon them by administration and student demographics. Despite the smooth prose, in my opinion, this is exactly just another disgruntled ex-employee who has too much time on their hands and is reveling in the assumed nobility of their cause.

let us know how the book police raid goes.
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a.anas



Joined: 24 Jun 2014
Posts: 26
Location: Sudan

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

omanoman wrote:
good luck with your one man / one woman crusade. My spidey sense tells me that this thread has been created and then endorsed by the same person, a common enough tactic in the digital world.

Not defending UoB but I know that there are plenty of people there teaching quite well and working within the limits and conditions imposed upon them by administration and student demographics. Despite the smooth prose, in my opinion, this is exactly just another disgruntled ex-employee who has too much time on their hands and is reveling in the assumed nobility of their cause.

let us know how the book police raid goes.


Setting aside the cynical tone in the comment, why would anyone want to pretend to be two persons to make factual statements is beyond me. Besides, it is easy to find out whether your cynicism is spot-on or not by asking the people you know in UOB about Anas (my real name) and K Besides, why don't you focus on what's said rather than who said it. focus on what's mentioned in the Wikipedia article because this is what this post is all about. I will refrain from making similar snide remarks not to prove my assumed nobility but because they are irrelevant to the main thrust of the post: the duplicity of UOB in making false claims. kibitzing is neither here nor there and is totally unhelpful
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madrileno



Joined: 19 Aug 2010
Posts: 270
Location: Salalah, Oman

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

UoB continues to churn out the drama and horrible experiences.

Prospective teachers should think twice before applying there.

a.anas wrote:
check out the edited Wikipedia article on University of Buraimi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Buraimi


Just an FYI... You should take a screenshot of the wiki article in question and upload it to Flickr, imgur, etc... Wiki articles are subject to editing by anyone with a free account, so hyperlinks aren't very reliable.


Last edited by madrileno on Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've read in other places in cyberia about a choker who used to work at UoB. A guy who was promoted by his agency to the position of HOD after several acts of violent criminal acts.
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madrileno



Joined: 19 Aug 2010
Posts: 270
Location: Salalah, Oman

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CVN-76 wrote:
I've read in other places in cyberia about a choker who used to work at UoB. A guy who was promoted by his agency to the position of HOD after several acts of violent criminal acts.


I think you're referring to the guy who was an employee of ELS/ITES (the private agency formerly in charge of the GFP at UoB) who was transferred to Sur, unless I'm mistaken.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 8:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

a.anas wrote:
check out the edited Wikipedia article on University of Buraimi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Buraimi

As of this posting, there's not much left of that UoB Wikipedia article to look at; it subsequently got a major revision with the following explanation: "Undid revision XXXXXX by Dr.c.kxxxxxxxx (talk) rm large, unsourced addition of potentially controversial material." I viewed the article earlier today. It was extremely biased, so no surprise that it got stripped down to just a few lines of text.

Wikipedia has a policy about editing from a neutral point of view (NPOV), specifically, "representing fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without bias, all of the significant views that have been published by reliable sources on a topic. All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view. NPOV is a fundamental principle of Wikipedia and of other Wikimedia projects. This policy is nonnegotiable and all editors and articles must follow it." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view

Frankly, it's best to create a personal blog on the crusade against UoB rather than post it on forums like this one and content-neutral sites like Wikipedia.
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a.anas



Joined: 24 Jun 2014
Posts: 26
Location: Sudan

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

While I certainly find it highly commendable that Wikipedia follows strict rules when it comes to editing articles, there is nothing in the edited article that is factually incorrect: UOB has removed its unsubstantiated claims of having affiliations with five European universities from its website.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world