SQU implements operational risk management framework

MUSCAT: The Arabian oryx has settled in the plains of the Sultanate since the beginning of history due to the presence of pastures and wild breeding sites suited to its environment.

In the pre-1970’s, a group of people went to the plains where the Arabian oryx habitat and hunted them with no deterrent or pity for the wildlife. There were no strict laws to prevent them from hunting at the time. In the early 1970s and fortunately, the international environmental conservation organizations at the time (Fiona and Flora International in the United Kingdom) in the early 1960s launched a campaign to capture the Arabian oryx from the wild as they predicted their extinction in case of non-intervention, which actually happened after nearly ten years.

The world campaign succeeded in capturing four heads of the Arabian oryx and sent them for reproduction with the world herd, which was collected from the Arab countries to a park in the United States of America.

In the last quarter of the seventies, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos ordered the initiation of a project to resettle the Arabian oryx in its native habitat in the desert and the plains of the Governorate of Al Wusta where the first batch of Arabian oryx arrived in 1980. At that time, Jeddat Al Harasis (Wadi Ja’aloni), was the site chosen for the project to resettle the Arabian oryx and the establishment of the “Arabian Oryx Sanctuary”.

There is no doubt that the selection of the site of the sanctuary is important as it contains plains and prairies that are appropriate to the nature of the Arabian oryx and its reproduction as the original and natural area of its spread in the Sultanate. After all these efforts, the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was listed in the World Heritage List by the UNESCO. The Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was named the first natural reserve in Oman after the Royal Decree No 4/94.

In an interview with Oman News Agency (ONA), Dr Mansour bin Hamad al Jahdami, Director of the Department of Environmental MUSCAT: The Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) recognises the importance of managing risks in an ever-evolving and highly competitive environment of a Higher Educational institution (HEI). SQU has established a fully functional risk management office responsible for the end-to-end management of risks posed to the Sultan Qaboos University. In this, the function has embarked upon development and implementation of risk frameworks for effective and efficient management of risks guided by the COSO: Enterprise Risk Management Framework. Operational risk stands as one of the key inherent risks posed to SQU. Moreover, the size and spread of SQU as a prominent HEI in the region makes it imperative to manage the various operational risks faced by it.

The Risk Management office presented the first risk framework for Operational Risk Management to a wide audience under the auspices of Professor Ali Al Shuali, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Administrative and Financial Affairs, Sultan Qaboos University. The framework, guided by COSO: Enterprise Risk Management framework is divided into two main pillars ie risk self-assessment and operational risk incident / accident reporting.

The framework was presented by Affairs and Arabian Oryx of the Office of Conservation of the Environment of the Royal Court, said that the Arabian oryx live in the desert and plains of the Sultanate since ancient times. It is one of the Arabian animals known to man in the peninsula and wrote poems about them, comparing its beauty to that of women and are spread throughout the Sultanate and several Arab Peninsula countries, such as Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. They are present in Egypt and Jordan as well.

As for the efforts of the Office of Environment Conservation to preserve the wildlife in the Sultanate, Dr Al Jahdami added that there are 600 Arabian Oryx, living within the breeding grounds and families in the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary with plans to take care of them according to a comprehensive programme and veterinary care of these herds in order to ensure that they continue to be in good health and to prepare them to be fit for living in the desert of the Sultanate for the stage of future release.

He further said that the Office of Environment Conservation has benefited from its efforts and its successful programmes, represented in the breeding of Arabian oryx in the Omani plains and deserts, after the first flock of Arabian oryx was released and grown in numbers and are roaming freely in the wilderness.

Dr Al Jahdami pointed out that the most important plans and objectives of the Office of the Conservation of the Environment in the future is to release the Arabian oryx captive in the large sanctuary to return to nature to live there safe without human obstacles. There are tourism programmes to attract tourists from inside and outside the Sultanate in tours to the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary and to watch wildlife in the Sultanate.

He said that there is currently a programme for groups and individuals visiting the sanctuary after obtaining permission to enter the sanctuary from the Office in Muscat to watch the wildlife there. Qurat al Ain Khan, Expert – Risk Management, SQU, who shed light on the importance of setting up a robust operational loss management system across the University operations by capturing empirical, all current and future incidents in the University. The collection of such loss data will enable the management to assess and avoid future operational losses by taking appropriate mitigating measures thereby affecting the operational expenses of the University positively. She further stated that the implementation of the risk assessment framework would build a risk culture where each staff of the University will be aware of and eventually self-manage risks at their end. She concluded by adding that she is hopeful that more and more HEIs in the country and the neighbouring region will adopt such risk practices in the HEIs and reap both tangible as well as intangible benefits.

The Risk Management Office also presented the Food Safety Guidelines timely in wake of the holy month of Ramadan. An initial draft of the guidelines was presented and several do’s and don’t’s concerning food habits and intake were also released in wake of the holy month. The Food Safety Guidelines have been introduced in SQU for the first time and the guidelines are in line with food safety standards used in Oman as well as compliant with ISO standards. Abeer al Kharousi has been with the SQU for over a decade and is a Dietician and Supervisor, Food Safety Unit at SQU.

Dr Salim al Harthi, Director of Risk Management, SQU, commented that the risk management in HEIs is of growing importance especially with the competitive and quickly evolving environments in the HEIs worldwide. He added, he would like to do roadshows to fellow Universities in Oman and the neighbouring region shedding light on the importance of risk practices in HEIs as well as sharing the expertise and practices developed and used in Sultan Qaboos University, the Sultanate’s leading and largest state owned HEI. Currently, RMO team had completed roadshows at some local HEIs while more roadshows would be planned in the near future.