Lower House endorses formation of higher education council

AMMAN — The Lower House on Tuesday endorsed several articles amending the higher education draft law, before House Speaker Atef Tarawneh adjourned the session due to lack of quorum.

MPs, in the presence of Cabinet members, approved forming a higher education council to be chaired by the Higher education minister and with the membership of the education minister as deputy president and the secretary general of the Higher Education Ministry, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Other members will comprise president of the Higher Education Accreditation Commission, one president from a public university and another from a private university, in addition to two academics of relevant expertise who have had the rank of professor for at least five years.

The members of the council will also include two experts from the private sector and director of the military education department at the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army.

The council is expected to be tasked with drawing higher education policies and strategies and following up on their implementation, setting constraints guaranteeing the independence of higher education institutions, as well as approving the establishment of higher education institutions inside and outside the Kingdom, or cancelling their accreditation. 

The council will also be responsible for distributing public support and extra fees for public universities, setting the general policy for student admission, and recommending the appointment of presidents, chairpersons and members of board of trustees at public universities, among other tasks.

The draft law, according to its mandating reasons, aims at enhancing the independence of universities through limiting the tasks of the council to draw the general policy of the higher education and its institutions, and expand the tasks of the universities’ boards of trustees, as well as including the private sector in the higher education governance.