Activists accuse universities of false fees advertising

AMMAN — The National Campaign for Defending Students’ Rights (Thabahtoona) is accusing universities of advertising lower fees on the unified admissions’ website than the ones they actually charge, in order to compete with other institutions, according to a post shared by the campaigners on their Facebook page on Thursday. 

Thabahtoona’s coordinator, Fakher Daas, expressed hope that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research would investigate the issue and verify the commitment of universities to the fees they advertise. 

Daas stressed that the issue had already been raised last year, when the Hashemite University charged students a fee of JD30 per credit hour in the specialisations of Psychological Guidance and Specialised Education, while advertising a JD25 fee on the unified admissions website. 

In a recent interview with The Jordan Times, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Adel Tweisi called on all students to report any case directly to the Ministry, stating that “there will be actions taken against those governmental universities that don’t commit to the fees they announce”.

Earlier this year, Tweisi announced that university fees should remain the same in all public universities for the 2017-2018 academic year for regular programmes.

Tweisi directed all heads of universities to abide by the decision, which comes in line with His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives to the government to take into account the financial situation of citizens.