Students to evaluate their university presidents — Higher Education Council

AMMAN — University students will be able to evaluate presidents of their universities through student councils, according to a Higher Education Council (HEC) decision issued on Thursday.

The council has recently endorsed a system for evaluating presidents of public universities in a bid to improve performance, enhance competitiveness and boost accountability.

The move was also designed to increase the ranking of Jordanian universities in international indexes.

The same specialised committee, which the HEC has entrusted to draft evaluation forms to gather the views of instructors and administrators, will carry out personal interviews with student representatives, Higher Education Minister Adel Tweisi said on Thursday.

Interviews will be held with presidents of student councils and two board members of the council in each public university, he explained to The Jordan Times.

All student council members are elected through regular cross-university elections.

After the committee of experts draft the evaluation forms, the HEC will send them to the boards of trustees of all universities to complete within a three-week period and then to return them to the HEC. 

Currently, an independent committee of experts is looking into the submitted forms to validate the information in order to write a report on each university president, the minister noted.

The HEC will then look into the reports and take the necessary measures, which fall across a spectrum, from exemption from service at one end, to recognition notes on the other.

Meanwhile, the HEC on Thursday endorsed a set of regulations for the establishment of dentistry faculties at private universities, a decision described as a "turning point". 

The council noted that dentistry faculties were previously exclusive to public universities.