Gov’t raises public university support allocations to JD90m

AMMAN —  The Cabinet on Wednesday increased allocations to public universities by JD18 million to a total of JD90 million, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The Cabinet formed a committee to help enable universities to overcome challenges and reformation requirements, by recommendation of the minister of higher education.

According to Petra, the committee comprises of two members of the Higher Education Council and the secretary general of the ministry, who chairs the committee. It was tasked to present an action plan within six weeks.

The plan should include a set of methods to achieve the financial and administrative reform goals for universities, as well as the rules for establishing units and controlling capital expenditure.

These procedures should be accompanied by measurable performance benchmarks, indices and quarterly reports to assess and evaluate progress and the extent to which university administrations have achieved the reforms process, Petra added.

The annual support allocated to the universities in 2019 includes JD10 million for debt repayments, JD20 million to the student support fund and JD42 million in direct support, amounting to a total of JD72 million.