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Facts about Oman and the UAE

This page contains some basic facts on Oman and the UAE that may be useful to prospective students.  Information is provided on Electrical supply, Money and Weather.

Electrical Supply

The electricity supply is 220-240Volt, 50 Mhz.  The sockets are three pin.  

In short, one can bring UK appliances and plug them straight in, without need of adapters or convertors.

Money

The local currency in the UAE is the Dirham (AED or Dhs) and in Oman the Riyal (OR).  However the Dirham is accepted in Buraimi and there is no need for students to use Riyals unless they travel further into Oman.  All prices on this website are given in Dirhams.

Most credit cards are accepted in larger shops and by ATM's.

For the exchange rate between the Dirham and your local currency we recommend you use an online currency convertor, e.g. http://www.xe.net/ucc/full.shtml.  However the following (given as number of dirhams to 1 unit of local currency, e.g. US$1=Dhs3.68) were true as of December 2007:

Australia AED3.21
Canada AED3.75
Euro AED5.42
New Zealand AED2.84
Sweden AED0.57
U.K. AED7.32
U.S. AED3.68

Weather

A friend of mine says that we have four seasons here: warm, hot, very hot and very very hot!!

The coolest winter temperatures would normally be about 20°C (approx. 70°F) during the day and 10°C (approx. 50°F) at night.  One would never need a jacket during the day (except maybe on one of the few days when it rains) but a jacket would be needed at night, especially if one was to sit out.

From May until September the peak daytime temperature is around 45°C (approx. 110°F), usually dropping to 35°C (approx. 95°F) at night.  Air conditioners are needed day and night.

The Working Week

The work week in Oman is Saturday through Wednesday. However, the Gulf Arabic Programme follows the UAE work week which is Sunday through Thursday.  Thus, classes are on Sunday through Thursday.

There are a number of websites providing information on Oman and the UAE and we have listed a few on our hyperlinks page.  Please note that inclusion of a websites address on this site does not indicate that we can vouch for its veracity.