Oman university gets Austrian know how

An Austrian is to head a new university in Oman.Johann Günther will become headmaster of the University of Buraimi which opens next month, it was announced today (Mon).The institute will start with a “test year” offering courses to around 300 students in October before around 10,000 people can sign up for lectures from autumn 2011.An overall 40 million Euros have been invested in the university located in the northern oasis town of Buraimi.Local decision-makers announced that Austria’s Krems college has provided infrastructure know how and curricula.Vienna University and the Austrian capital’s University of Technology also participated in supporting the creation of the new institute in the Arab state.Meanwhile, Vienna University dropped from 132nd to 143rd in the annual World University Ranking established by British research firm QS.Cambridge University tops the list ahead of US universities Harvard and Yale.Vienna University was the only Austrian institution considered by the listing of 200 universities all over the world.