by Times of Oman

MUSCAT — Oman’s best-known IT personality is back with a bang. He has a mission and passion to fulfil it. Tariq Al Barwani, who was in Australia is back, armed with a MIT (Master of Information Technology) degree from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia and more importantly, with a burning ambition to put Oman firmly on the global IT map.
He is the first from the Sultanate to graduate with an MIT degree from this university.
Tariq, who is quite popular in Oman as a media commentator on information and communications’ technology issues, attained a distinction average in the 11-month Masters’ course he undertook at Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus.

Tariq’s talent was recognised by the Faculty of Information and Communications Technology when he was selected from 200 students to work as a tutor in the advanced web technologies subject during the second semester. He had attained outstanding marks in the subject in the first semester.

Tariq, who at 25, is well known in Oman for his IT skills and revered as Oman’s top IT expert said what set Swinburne apart from other universities was that it offered IT courses that were highly relevant to the needs of the industry.

“Unlike other universities, Swinburne’s courses are practical as well as being theory-based. I chose to study at Swinburne because the university offers cutting-edge IT courses and technology that ensure graduates are ahead of the rest in the job market,” Tariq said.

He also added that he gained a lot of valuable experience working for the ICT faculty at Swinburne. “As an international student, I had the benefit of meeting other students from around the world, as well as Australian students, and sharing and exchanging information with them. This is the sort of valuable international experience that is highly sought after in the workplace,” he said.
Tariq gained his undergraduate degree, a Bachelor of Computer Science with honours, at one of Canada’s top universities, the University of Acadia. Now, back in the Sultanate, his main aim is to “serve my people and put Oman firmly on the global IT map”.

Swinburne’s ICT faculty offers some of Australia’s most innovative undergraduate courses in computer science, software engineering, information systems, telecommunications and networks, astronomy and computational science. The faculty also offers challenging postgraduate coursework programmes in IT, networks and astronomy, and has several research programmes that are recognised as world class.