Abstract—This study examines the relationship between higher education, human capital, and national competitiveness in Oman, focusing on the period from 2007 to 2016. The purpose is to provide a historical benchmark for understanding how strategic investments in higher education have influenced Oman's trajectory of global competitiveness during a decade of economic transition and policy reform. The significance of this research lies in its contribution to the limited empirical literature on education and competitiveness in the Gulf region, offering insights that support evidence-based policymaking and future development strategies. This quantitative approach uses secondary data from the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Reports. The analysis centers on the higher education and training pillar, utilizing Kendall's tau-b correlation to assess the relationship between Oman's competitiveness ranking and the eight sub-components of higher education and training. The study also tracks trends in government expenditure and enrollment rates to provide context for the findings. The analysis reveals a strong, statistically significant correlation between the quality-focused components of higher education, such as management school quality, education system quality, technological integration, research capacity, and Oman's overall competitiveness. In contrast, as reflected by enrollment rates alone, quantitative expansion showed a limited impact on competitiveness. The results also highlight the vulnerability of educational progress to economic fluctuations, particularly in a resource-dependent context. Based on these findings, the study recommends sustained investment in educational quality, research, and digital infrastructure, alongside policies that buffer education funding from economic volatility. These measures are crucial for Oman as it advances toward its Vision 2040 objectives and strives to establish a resilient, knowledge-based economy. 
 

Keywords—Arab countries, emerging economies, World Economic Forum (WEF), Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), higher education, Oman 

Cite: Mythili Kolluru and Shobhna Gupta, "Benchmarking Higher Education and National Competitiveness: Historical Insights from Oman," International Journal of Learning and Teaching, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 21-31, 2026.

Copyright © 2026 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).