Abstract
This paper intends to discuss the policy of admission to Jordanian public universities. This admission rules are variable and open to almost 100% of the graduates from secondary schools. This might refer to the historical events and economic conditions that the country has gone through since its establishment. Furthermore, the admission policy is having a negative affecting on the county's economic and social conditions, without any indication from the responsible higher education administrators of implementing changes or at least reconsider them. The efforts to find solutions for this unusual admission policy and the socio-economic problems connected to it may involve elevating the standards of the curriculum and advanced admission rules, which should result in a more elite selection of students. In addition, there is a pressing need to analyse this policy and present a comprehensive profile of it as a basis for future discussions of related issues.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
Unified Admission Committee, http://www.admhec.gov.jo/, accessed 10 December 2010.
Admission rules for students in Jordanian public universities for the academic year 2010/2011 issued on the bases of Article (6/a/5) of Law No. (23) for the year 2009: Law for Higher Education and Scientific Research and its amendments, and under the resolution of Higher Education Council No. (123) dated 27 May 2010 (MoHESR, 2010).
From the 41,449 students, who were on the competition list for the academic year 2008/2009, the universities admitted 13,150 students in a parallel programme; this meant around one-third of all admissions, which is considered a very high percentage (MoHESR, 2010).
Recognised means that the university is not under the authority of the Higher Education Accreditation Council and do not apply its accreditation criteria. Although the university is recognised that does not mean that it certification could be also recognised.
According to the last statistics published by the Ministry of Higher Education, the financial deficit of Jordanian public universities is JOD 115,663 millions ($162,585), including: University of Jordan $31,677, Mutah University $25,282, Al-Balqa’ Applied University $24,841, German–Jordanian University $21,362, Al al-Bayt University $16,868, Hashemite University $15,390, Jordan University of Science and Technology $8,434, Yarmouk University $7,974, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University $7,114 and the Tafila University $4,217. Al-Rai newspaper, 6 June 2011, http://www.alrai.com/pages.php?news_id=406701, accessed, 6 June 2011.
References
Abu-Sharar, T.M., Yaghi, A.A. and Al-Yousef, S. (2007) ‘Enhancing quality and relevance of higher education in Jordan’, A position paper submitted to The National Forum on Jordan's Competitiveness in Higher Education For Building a Knowledge Economy; 11–12 February, Amman, Jordan.
Almaani, W. (2010a) ‘Raising admission average to Jordanian private universities to 65 percent’, Al-Rai, 13 June.
Almaani, W. (2010b) ‘Parallel programme in the universities is unconstitutional’, Addustour, 19 April.
Al-Saket, M. (2007) ‘New perspective for intermediate higher education of technical and applied programmes’, Working Paper presented at the Higher Education Development Forum King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center; 11–12 July, Amman, Jordan.
Batikhi, A. (2010) ‘Some of the problems of higher education in Jordan and ways to address them’, Al-Rai, 22 January.
Bekhradnia, B. (2006) ‘The Governance of Higher Education in Jordan’, A report for the Higher Education Development Project, World Bank Projects, Higher Education Policy Institute Publishing, UK.
Bhal, T. and Syed, M.H. (1991) Encyclopaedia of the Muslim World, New Delhi: Anmol Publications.
Cantini, D. (2010) ‘University of Jordan: Situating globalization policies regarding higher education in their context — an ethnographic perspective from Amman’, Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Vorderer Orient für gegenwartsbezogene Forschung und Documentation (DAVO), Band 30.
Cunningham, R. and Sarayrah, K.Y. (1993) Wasta: The Hidden Force in Middle Eastern Society, Santa Barbara: Greenwood Press.
Lughod, A.I. (2000) ‘Palestinian higher education: National identity, liberation and globalization’, Boundary 2 27 (1): 75–95.
Mashhour, A.S. (2007) ‘A distance education model for Jordanian students based on an empirical study’, Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE 8 (2): 146–156.
MoHESR. (2008) ‘New grants for university students’, Al-Rai, 13 October.
MoHESR. (2010) ‘Higher education and per capita income of the Jordanian families’, Al-Rai, 13 June.
MoHESR. (2011) ‘Ministry of higher education and scientific research’, http://www.mohe.gov.jo/HomePage/tabid/36/language/en-US/Default.aspx, accessed 15 April 2011.
Othman, O.M. (2002) ‘Engineering education in Jordan’, Evaluation de la qualité- région MEDA Tempus Project UM_JEP-30092-2002, Presentation of Engineering Higher Education, http://www.ciep.fr/evquameda/www.evquameda.org/Jordan-EngEduc-Report.pdf.
Reiter, Y. (2002) ‘Higher education and sociopolitical transformation in Jordan’, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 29 (2): 137–164.
Roy, D.A. and Irelan, W.T. (1992) ‘Educational policy and human resources development in Jordan’, Middle Eastern Studies 28 (1): 178–215.
Sarayrah, K.Y. (2003) ‘Resistance to innovative teaching methods in public administration education in Jordan’, Conference paper presented at International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration, Public Administration: Challenges of Inequality and Exclusion, 14–18 September, Miami, USA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This paper was written under the supervision of the head of the chair, Prof. Dr. Birgit Schaebler.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Massadeh, N. Policies Governing Admission to Jordanian Public Universities. High Educ Policy 25, 535–550 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2011.28
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2011.28