UJ students drop summer course due to limited classes, heat

AMMAN — Several students from the University of Jordan (UJ) say they have dropped out of the summer course due to limited class availability, the lack of facilities and the soaring temperatures. 

Hashim Hadeed, the vice president of the UJ Student Union, said the main problem facing students is that they cannot register for classes they have paid for.

“Many of the students paid for classes to take during the summer — since the semester is shorter and they can graduate earlier — but when registration started, they didn’t find the classes open,” he told The Jordan Times this week.

Hadeed added that most professors do not offer classes in the summer course, so the university administration hires part-timers that students are not familiar with to teach the material.

“Most of those enrolled in the summer course are expected to graduate this term, as the university issued a new decision to hold a graduation ceremony for students who finish during the summer course,” he said.

The hours registered by students for the summer course will be counted as credit hours for the fall semester in September, according to Hadeed.

Israa Hatem, a fourth-year student, said she dropped the course because it started in Ramadan and there was no ventilation in the lecture halls.

“It was unhealthy to stay in a class of more than 50 people with no proper ventilation systems,” she said.

Hatem is an engineering student who was expected to graduate this summer, but she chose to register for more hours in the upcoming semester rather than take a summer course.

The head of the Registration Department, Mohammad Shraideh, said the summer course is an “optional semester” and students are not obliged to take it.

Currently around 25,892 students are enrolled in the course, compared to 22,117 students in 2015. 

“We had a problem with the system and the server during the first days of the add-and-drop week,” he told The Jordan Times.

Any class with fewer than 30 students was cancelled, Shraideh said, noting that students enrolled in the classes were transferred to other similar classes.

“Other students who dropped the course said they did so for personal reasons — illness, or travel purposes,” Shraideh said.