General Foundation Programme

Gulf College (GC, the College) offers its General Foundation Programme (GFP) in alignment with the Oman Qualifications Framework (OQF).  The programme entry standards are in line with the Oman Academic Standards for General Foundation Programmes (OASGFP).

Accordingly, the GFP covers three components, namely English, Information Technology (IT) and Mathematics (Math), as well as Study Skills which are integrated into the three modules. The GFP is managed by the Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS), while admission to the programme is managed by the Admissions and Registration Department (ARD) in the Centre for Admissions and Registration (CAR).

Centre for Foundation Studies Aims`

The CFS has its own set of aims, which are:

1. To improve students’ English language proficiency in all four skills which is necessary for them succeed in an English-medium programme
2. To develop students’ knowledge and study skills in English language, Mathematics and Information Technology in order to help them succeed in their higher education,
3. To enable students to progress onto an undergraduate programme in business or computing, having gained the required skills and fundamental knowledge, and
4. To engage students in a range of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities that would further prepare them for their higher education studies and social responsibilities.

Graduates with a General Education Diploma or its equivalent are admitted at GFP. The admission process starts at Admission and Registration Department by submitting all the required documents. In case of providing evidence of having met the required Learning Outcomes for English, Mathematics and IT upon registration, such as IELTS, TOEFL, ICDL certificates, etc, the applicant is legible for exemption from the relevant GFP component.

• For English and Study Skills component:

The English PT consists of three sections, all of which are assessed on a 100% scale. Students, who score between 0 – 39%, will study General English 01. Students, who score between 40% – 84%, will be exempted from General English 01 and will be registered in General English 02. Students, who score 85% or higher can take an Exit Test in English, if they score 60% or higher, they will be exempted from General English 01 and 02. 

• For Mathematics:

Students, who score between 0 – 39, will study Mathematics 1. Students, who score 40+, are exempted in Mathematics 1 and can take an Exit Test in Mathematic 2 to be exempted from studying Mathematics modules.

• For the IT component:

It component includes one module only, there is only one test (PT). Students can be exempted from studying the GFP IT modules if they score higher than or equal to the cut-off point in IT Exit Test (i.e. 40%).

The Centre for Foundation Studies aim to provide students an accessible and flexible route into higher education; to prepare students with the necessary English language skills by establishing an English speaking environment; to facilitate the development of underpinning knowledge, broad thinking and life skills in order to help students succeed in their higher education; to enable students to progress onto an undergraduate programme in business or computing; and to support students in their thinking about personal, educational and career development. The Centre’s aims have been designed to serve and achieve the following strategic objectives, which are; provide a high quality teaching & learning environment to enhance the student experience; build GC reputation as a provider of quality higher education in Oman in order to maximise the trust of stakeholders and provide students with opportunities in order to enhance the GC Graduate Attributes, competencies and employability skills through co/extra-curricular activities.

Five modules are offered in the GFP. Students must complete all modules, unless they are exempted from a module via transfer credits, placement test result, or an approved valid certificate. It is recommended that new students entering the GFP programme begin their first semester with Mathematics 1 and General English 1, and take the remaining three modules during their second semester. However, if a student has exemption in one of the modules normally taken in a student’s first semester, it is acceptable for them to register for another module (for example, IT) during their first semester. The programme equips the student with the necessary skills, competencies and communication abilities to proceed on to Higher Education Programmes. The generic modules focus on the development of essential personal and study skills, practical numeric skills and information technology skills. The English language course focuses on providing firm grounding in language skills in Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking, presentation skills and techniques, method of preparing and producing academic researches and reports.

Upon successful completion of the GFP with an IELTS 5.0 equivalent, students proceed to Level 3, first year of the undergraduate studies.

GFP is a one year programme including 2 semesters. The duration of each semester is 16 weeks.

Students with hearing impairment do not take the Listening and Speaking sub-modules. Instead, they take twice the normal number of hours given to the Writing and Reading submodules, giving these students a total of 16 contact hours for General English 01 and 12 contact hours for General English 02. Further information about the content of GFP modules and Learning Outcomes is available in the relevant Module Descriptors.

There are placement tests for English, Maths and IT

The main purpose of the placement test is to place the students in the right level and to give exemptions in GFP according to the Oman Academic Standards for GFP

All Placement tests are conducted through Moodle platform. The Exit Tests are paper-based.