Around 24,451 students admitted to public universities

By Petra - Sep 02,2014 - Last updated at Sep 02,2014

AMMAN — A total of 24,451 students were accepted at public universities for the 2014-15 academic year, Higher Education Minister Amin Mahmoud said on Tuesday.

At a press conference, Mahmoud said the Unified Admission Committee received a total of 36,615 applications.

The Higher Education Council decided to admit 27,600 students, in addition to seats designated for Arab and international students, and seats for specialisations where students apply directly to universities, the minister said.

The number, 27,600 includes 20 per cent of seats for children of military and security personnel, 5 per cent for children of teachers, 5 per cent for those who finished the General Secondary Certificate Examination in previous years and 5 per cent for Jordanians who finished their secondary education abroad, in addition to 350 seats for those living in Palestinian refugee camps.

The minimum grade of those admitted to medical colleges this year stood at 97.6 per cent at the University of Jordan (UJ), 96.5 per cent at Yarmouk University, 96 per cent at Mutah University, 98.3 per cent at the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) and 96.9 per cent at the Hashemite University, Mahmoud added.

Another 490 students will be admitted to fine arts faculties at UJ and Mutah University, nursing colleges at Mutah University, veterinary medicine and architecture programmes at JUST, and nursing at Al Hussein Bin Talal University.

A total of 2,760 students will be admitted through the quota allocated for badia regions and schools in underprivileged areas, while some 1,000 students who passed community college exams and applied to bridge into universities will also be added to the accepted students, according to Mahmoud, who expected the total number of admitted students to reach 31,850.

The Higher Education Council decreased the number of students accepted in humanitarian specialties by 40-45 per cent, the minister said, with more focus given to scientific majors to meet labour market needs.

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