Amman, January 27 - The Education Committee of the Senate, headed by Senator Dr. Wajih Owais, discussed during its meeting today, Monday, with the presidents of public universities, the challenges of universities and ways to advance the education sector.
The meeting was attended, in addition to the committee members, by the presidents of the following universities: "Jordanian" Dr. Nazir Obeidat, "Mu'tah" Dr. Salama Al-Naimat, "Yarmouk" Dr. Islam Massad, "Al-Bayt" Dr. Osama Naseer, "Hashemite" Dr. Khaled Al-Hayari, "Balqa Applied" Dr. Ahmed Al-Ajlouni, "Al-Hussein Bin Talal" Dr. Atef Al-Kharabsheh, "Tafilah Technical" Dr. Bassam Al-Mahasneh, and "German Jordanian" Dr. Alaa Al-Din Al-Halhouli, in addition to the Chairman of the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission for Higher Education Institutions Dr. Dhafer Al-Sarayrah.
Awis said that the committee is concerned with reviewing the size of the challenges facing universities and discussing ways to address them, especially those related to maintaining the quality of education and its outcomes, in addition to the financial challenge in light of the increasing number of students accepted into universities.
He pointed out the importance of developing an integrated, comprehensive and clear system for developing human resources, which frames the work of the sectors concerned with education, and is consistent with the outcomes of the economic vision, noting the need to support the process of continuous reform and modernization of the higher education system in the Kingdom and improve its outcomes.
He explained that the committee is keen to translate the outcomes of its multiple and diverse meetings into recommendations that are submitted through constitutional channels to the government and its executive institutions, in implementation of the directives of His Majesty King Abdullah II, on the necessity of cooperation and partnership and maintaining communication and coordination between the legislative and executive authorities in accordance with what is specified in the constitution.
In turn, the university presidents reviewed the most prominent challenges facing universities in general, most notably the financial challenge and the size of the debt, which is exacerbated over time in light of limited funding and support, and the difficulty of fulfilling the obligations imposed on universities, in addition to the accumulation of interest on large loans that universities take to ensure the continuity of their giving.
They said that the challenge of debt and its increasing size constitutes a major obstacle that affects the educational process and the quality of its outputs, calling for an executive plan to pay off the debts owed to universities by various parties.
They pointed out that universities need more support, and that university fees do not cover the salaries of university employees and their teaching staff, which prevents them from carrying out educational activities and developments in their colleges and working to prepare and develop their infrastructure.
In turn, Al-Sarayrah spoke about the importance of the Cabinet’s decision to merge the Professional and Technical Skills Development Authority, the Education Quality and Accountability Unit in the Ministry of Education, and the Higher Education Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission, into one body called the “Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission.”
He added that the new body resulting from the merger of the three bodies carries out the tasks of organizing, accrediting, and ensuring quality in all aspects of the education system and human resources development, by developing new mechanisms and practices according to the best standards in organization, accreditation, and quality assurance.
For their part, the members of the Senate Committee said that the possibility of addressing the biggest challenge facing universities, which is indebtedness, lies in strengthening the partnership with the private sector, and distributing the roles and responsibilities in financing universities, which contributes to supporting their budgets in supportive ways in addition to the tuition fees for their students, stressing the importance of benefiting from successful experiences among government universities themselves.