MPs want university admission criteria shelved

AMMAN — A group of MPs on Tuesday called for freezing the "untimely" and "confusing" draft unified admission criteria for public universities.

In a memorandum they submitted to the Lower House speaker’s office, 45 lawmakers requested that the decision, taken by Higher Education Minister Labib Khadra, be frozen, citing the confusion that would emerge especially nowadays when students are sitting for the General Secondary Certificate Examination (Tawjihi). 

In remarks to The Jordan Times earlier this week, Ministry of Higher Education Secretary General Hani Dmour said the Higher Education Council would next week finalise the criteria, to go into effect in the 2015-2016 academic year.

The council last week decided to raise the minimum score for admission to public universities from 65 to 70 and at private universities from 60 to 65, starting the 2015-2016 academic year.

In the memo, a copy of which was made available to The Jordan Times, signatories called for delaying the decision until a committee tasked with preparing a new higher education strategy completes its mandate.

“The new unified admission criteria may contradict the committee’s outcomes,” they said.

They also claimed that the new decision did not give private universities enough time to prepare for the expected repercussions of the new admission criteria.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Jordan News Agency, Petra, published Sunday, Khadra said that the decision to raise the minimum admission score was adopted based on previous strategies and recommendations made by several committees over the past seven years. 

The minister explained that raising the threshold average would ensure a better quality of college students.

The new criteria would not cancel “lists of exceptions” in the admission process, but would “streamline the process”, both officials said.

Studies showed that most of the students involved in violence have been admitted to state universities through the exception lists, including one that secures seats for students from “underprivileged areas” outside the competition system. 

Following a meeting of the House’s education panel with Khadra, some deputies threatened to move ahead with a no-confidence motion against the minister, citing the decision’s “unfairness” and Khadra’s “arrogant attitude” and his “disrespect of the legislature”.

Khadra is said to have left the meeting with the lawmakers after a heated discussion.

According to activists, around 38 per cent of students accepted in state universities last year won their seats through the exception system, which also ensures privileges to the children of military and security personnel, teachers, and Palestinian refugee camps and tribes, among others.