Cabinet approves licensing of three private medical universities

AMMAN — The government on Sunday gave the green light for licensing three private medical universities provided they meet certain criteria. In press remarks following a Cabinet's meeting, Higher Education Minister Muhyiddine Touq said that the decision requires private medical universities to enter full partnership with universities ranked among the world's top 500 universities, in addition to providing new local private medical universities with faculty members during the first five years.

The minister added that under the decision, the universities must ensure that the number of non-Jordanian students consist of no less than 60 per cent, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

In order to protect the Kingdom's public universities, the Cabinet also required any new private medical university to recruit staff that do not already work at public universities, he added. Touq said that the decision also requires private medical universities to dedicate 20 per cent of their annual budgets for scholarships to form a qualified Jordanian cadre, in addition to allocating a certain amount for bringing in foreign experts.