Although a basic premise of higher education is that students must take the primary responsibility for their own learning, problems arise when the focus throughout elementary and secondary schooling is on passive, rote learning with the student totally dependent on the teacher and text, as in Islamic schools. The educational shock experienced in the transition from school to university has been compared to culture shock. It is multi-dimensional, with linguistic, attitudinal, cultural, and cognitive aspects, and has implications for teachers, curriculum, and classroom methodology as well as for students. In the traditional Islamic educational system of the Sultanate of Oman, the transition problem is expected to be especially pronounced for secondary graduates entering the university's English-medium sciences program. Among the strategies planned to help students avoid dislocation of learning are: (1) identification of needed study skills and steps to develop them individually among students; (2) a course to upgrade language skills, compensate for basic knowledge deficiencies, and provide time for adjustment; (3) orientation and sensitization programs for faculty and staff; (4) team teaching; (5) design of courses with activities graded and sequenced according to degree of teacher control; (6) a learning center; and (7) adjustment in the secondary school curriculum and teaching methodology. (MSE)