Banks to offer public university scholarships for excelling underprivileged Tawjihi students

AMMAN — The Association of Banks in Jordan (ABJ) and the Higher Education Ministry on Wednesday signed a scholarship agreement to be implemented through the Pilot Muath Kasasbeh Scholarship Fund.

The scholarships are financed by the association’s member banks through the fund, which was established to commemorate Kasasbeh, according to an ABJ statement sent to The Jordan Times.

ABJ President Marwan Awad said the fund will provide 52 scholarships for each of the 52 districts in the Kingdom, to be presented to excelling underprivileged General Secondary Certificate Examination (Tawjihi) graduates in the 2015-16 academic year.

The scholarships will cover the expenses of bachelor’s degree students in certain specialisations at public universities.

Awad stressed that banks participating in the initiative are keen on applying transparency and fairness in distributing the scholarships to reach deserving students.

The banks and the ministry have set competitive conditions and standards for beneficiaries that will be announced in the next few days, he added.

Higher Education Ministry Secretary General Hani Dmour said the agreement represents a model of public-private partnership, calling on other private sector institutions to follow suit.

Jordanians who score 80 per cent or higher in the Tawjihi summer session, and are accepted at a public university in the regular programme, are eligible for the scholarships, the statement added.

Awad and Dmour signed the agreement on behalf of their respective institutions.