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HEC calls on universities to introduce community service course

By Ana V. Ibáñez Prieto - Mar 29,2018 - Last updated at Mar 29,2018

Malaysian Yarmouk University students cleaning Irbid streets in personal initiative in May 2015 (File photo)

AMMAN — The Higher Education Council (HEC) has called on Jordanian universities to introduce community service course as graduation requirement, aiming to ensure that all students engage in activities in the service of society. 

As put by the HEC, the  validating reason of the decision, which will start as of the beginning of the upcoming academic year, is to support extracurricular activities mobilising students and facilitating their integration into the community. 

“Any university in the world has three main goals: teaching, research and community service,” Higher Education Minister Adel Tweisi told The Jordan Times, stressing that “Jordanian universities are not doing so well when it comes to students’ social integration, and this decision has come to fill this gap”.

“This [decision] will contribute to developing the personality of the students and expand their work experience off-campus,” the minister said.

“Students will be exposed to different types of fieldwork that are relevant to their areas of expertise. This way, members of the community will see that university students have something to offer to the society.”

Psychology student Rama Awwad, who was already required to do volunteer work as part of her university programme, said she believes that “this decision will bring benefits to everyone, as it will trigger improvements in our society while helping students change their minds and become more aware of the issues present in the community”.

Awwad expressed hopes to “meet refugee children and teenagers and offer them support”, explaining that this would help her gain more experience and start training herself prior to getting involved in actual field work. 

University of Jordan student Aisha, who is currently volunteering by offering translation services for a range of organisations.

“It is the responsibility of educational institutions to raise awareness and work for the improvement of the society,” the student said, adding that “this decision will solve two issues at once, working for the enhancement of the communities while ensuring that universities provide students with a chance to train themselves in their field”.

Hashemite University student Tareq Khalil said: “I think that the Jordanian youth are not aware enough of the need that our country has for community service,” adding, “most students go through their university years caring about their marks and that’s it; but we shall remember that we are here to learn skills that are for the good of our society, and we should put them into practice selflessly”.

However, the local NGO Wojoud for Empowering Civil Society showed scepticism over the new decision, pointing out that “volunteering is always beneficial, but the word itself says it: volunteering should be a personal choice, and forcing students to do it is neither fair nor correct”.

“The circumstances of each student determine his/her ability to perform volunteer work and, in Jordan, we are already suffering from overcrowding in the sector,” the NGO added, noting that “youth is ready to engage with any activity but, in certain situations, it is not easy for their families, as they do not receive any compensation yet still have to pay for their transportation and food”.

The new rule was also seen negatively by University of Jordan student Balqees Majdi, who highlighted “some of us [students] are already flooded with extracurricular activities and our study field is not as related to the volunteering sector as others might be — so this decision is only holding us back”.

She continued: “Instead, what the ministry should do for once is require universities to establish mandatory credit hours to be achieved with an actual internship; this way, we would be able to end the no experience — no job cycle.”

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