الملخص الإنجليزي
This study aims at investigating the requirements of applying the benchmarking steps as it is perceived by academic and administrators in the Student's Affairs Administration in the Colleges of Applied Sciences in the Sultanate of Oman. Furthermore, it examines the obstacles which would hinder the application in future. For achieving the above objectives, the researcher had designed a questionnaire consists of (51) items, which were divided in following domains: Planning, collecting & analyzing data, and Implantation & Evaluation. In order to identify the obstacles, (20) statements were included in the instrument. The study samples have included (188) academics and administrators working at the Colleges of Applied Sciences. The data was processed statistically by using the arithmetic median deviations, the relative significance (the rank) and the ( t-test) for two independent samples, and the one - way analysis of variance (ANOVA). For determining the differences in identifying the study variants, the researcher has used the least significant difference (LSD) for posteriori comparisons. The study revealed the following significant results: The role of the benchmarking appears through the improvement of the performance which is considered as the base in the field of management in general, the benchmarking process requires support from the higher administration of the institutions. The field study results: 1- The assessments of the study participants about the availability of the requirements of applying the benchmarking steps in the management of the applied sciences college faculties in the Sultanate of Oman were moderate. 2- In relating to the study variables impact, the study has concluded to the following results: There are no significant statistical differences between the mean score of males and females gender, and there are no significant differences between the 3 dimensions according to the variable of college in favor of the colleges, and the variable of experience in favor of the years of experience in the 3 dimension at (as 0.05). And there are significant differences between the 3 dimensions according to the variable of job at (a< 0.05). This difference is in favor of the academics. Also there are significant differences between the 3 dimensions according to the variable of qualification at (as 0.05). The difference is in favor of those Diploma holders. 3- The total assessment of the study participants about the obstacles of applying the benchmarking was moderate. The most important obstacle during the period of taking amendment procedures in the fields of the student's services was the lack of the specialized stuff in applying the benchmarking. There are a number of suggestions need to be mentioned. The most important are: Linking the benchmarking with the college's vision and mission, training the staff to qualify in the benchmarking application and preparing action plans for collecting published information about colleges relating to this field. Key words: Benchmarking, Requirements of the Application, Benchmarking steps: Planning, collecting & analyzing data, and Implantation & Evaluation, Colleges of Applied Sciences.
