‘No intention’ of lay-offs after UJ finds 1,500 positions redundant

AMMAN — Approximately 1,500 employees at the University of Jordan (UJ), are in redundant positions, according to a recent statement by its president, Abdel Kareem Qudah.

The annual cost of these extra employees is estimated at JD14 million, and their positions are all administrative, according to the president’s statement.

“We, however, have no intention of letting anyone go,” Qudah said in a recent press conference.

Siwar Manaseer, an employee in UJ’s communications department, told The Jordan Times that the employees would not be fired because, “instead of dismissing the additional employees, the president has chosen to stop hiring anyone for their positions once they quit or retire”.

Last year, UJ took 200 employees off its payroll without refilling their positions, saving JD2 million.

“The fact that the additional employees were hired by their superiors, despite not being needed, is not the employees’ fault, so it would be unfair to dismiss them through no fault of their own,” said Riyad Mohtaseb, head of UJ’s Finance Department.

UJ’s academic to administrative ratio is 1:2, while internationally the “normal” rate is 1:1, according to Qudah’s statement.

The extra jobs have been weighing down the university’s budget, which Qudah said “had to borrow JD 5.5 million last year, when it could not pay salaries in September, October and November”.

However, Qudah also said that UJ only received JD4 million out of the JD8 million assigned to it in 2018, which also exacerbated its finances.