Sad reality

Quacquarelli Symonds is an organisation specialising in education and study abroad. QS rankings are based on research of graduate employment, teaching quality and an assessment of the global diversity of faculty and students.

MIT ranks as the top university in the world in the latest QS World University Rankings.

Jordan, as a nation, believes in education, but unfortunately the latest QS ranking results show that the country’s continuous investment in education has not yet paid off.

It is most unfortunate that although Jordan is considered a regional higher education hub and has seen amazing growth over the past decade, none of its universities is ranked among the top 500 in any international ranking system, including QS.

Research output stands at a dismal 0.5 papers per staff per year!

The question is will Jordan continue to be a regional higher education hub when 10 universities from the Arab region managed to outperform Jordanian universities and are listed among the top international universities.

The difficulties faced by higher education administrators and professors are compounded by the socio-economic constraints within which they are working.

There is increasing consensus that the solution is two-fold: a strictly impartial selection process of administrators (especially in governance), faculty and staff, and the establishment of quality assurance mechanisms in accordance with international standards to ensure continuous quality control and improvement.

Ahed Al Wahadni,
Amman