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AMMAN – HRH Prince Feisal, the Regent, on Wednesday met with a US Congress delegation chaired by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) at the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army headquarters, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. The meeting, attended by several senior army officers and US Ambassador to Jordan Alice G. Wells, discussed bilateral ties and means to develop them, in addition to several issues of common interest.

AMMAN — Jordan Customs Department Director General Maj. Gen. Waddah Hmoud directed all workers at customs centres and airports to take the necessary measures for the FIFA U-17 Women World Cup in Jordan to be held from September 30 to October 21, 2016, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Hmoud issued the directives during a meeting with Salah Sabra, vice president of the Jordan Football Association, where they talked about ways to facilitate the entry of sports equipment and tools necessary for football pitch maintenance.

AMMAN — The lack of government financial support to public universities is to blame for the high costs of higher education in Jordan, according to experts.  

Despite their disagreement with the parallel programme as a fair and efficient system to accept students at universities, they agreed it is the “best option on the table”, in light of the “very little and shrinking” financial support the government provides to public universities.

MP Mohammad Al Haj, head of the Lower House Educational Committee, said the government’s support to the 10 public universities was limited to JD57 million in 2015, adding that the Lower House managed to increase the allocation to JD72 million in 2016, including JD20 million set aside for student funds.

“Yet this is still not enough to improve the economic performance of public universities,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone on Monday.

Also, he said that the “large” number of scholarships and grants given to a wide array of students who do not pay any of the educational fees “burdens” the budgets of universities.

Universities, therefore, increase tuition fees to make up for the lack of governmental support.

The lawmaker said fees of the regular programmes in public universities are “very reasonable”, but students accepted through the parallel programme pay “too much”.

He cited a study that shows that around 75 per cent of Jordanian families are financially incapable of paying for the university tuition for more than one of their children, a matter that obliges many students to work while studying.

Um Rashid, a mother of five, said she and her husband had to sell her jewellery in order to secure the university education of their first two daughters, who later worked and helped in paying tuition fees for the other three.

“Almost half of our household income is allocated for university education,” she told The Jordan Times recently over the phone, adding that they had no easier way to do it as a middle class family with limited income.  

Mohammad Masri, a third year university student, said he has been working at a fast food restaurant near his university in order to pay for his education and daily expenses.

“It is difficult for a young man like me to ask my retired father to pay for my university education,” he said, adding that many of his friends and colleagues at university work and study at the same time.

Haj also called on the government to treat private universities on equal footing with their public peers regarding quality standards, electricity tariffs and income tax, noting that private universities accommodate a large number of students and must not be victims of “over-regulation”.    

To address the issue, he said universities located in investment-friendly areas should take part in managing some investment projects to generate income, calling for partnerships with the private sector in joint projects and scientific research.

Adnan Badran, chairman of the University of Jordan›s Board of Trustees, told Jordan TV recently that the parallel programme is “unfair and unconstitutional”.

He added in the interview that universities are compelled to use this system to offset their financial shortfalls.

University administrations struggle with a “difficult equation”, trying to strike a balance between generating income from tuition fees and paying “rewarding” salaries to faculty members, in light of competitive offers they receive from universities in Gulf Arab countries, said Higher Education Ministry Secretary General Hani Dmour.

He noted that fees of the regular programmes have not witnessed remarkable increases over the past 30 years, adding that around 70 per cent of students enrolled in public universities benefit from scholarships offered either by the army or the Education Ministry.

The problem lays in the fact that students pay less than 30 per cent of the cost of their education, thus universities have to make up for the remaining 70 per cent through self-funding, grants or donations,” he told The Jordan Times Monday over phone.

He noted that the ministry wishes that the parallel programme does not exist in the first place, but under certain circumstances, many students prefer it. 

He gave an example of 2,000 students who were accepted last year through the regular programme at Al Hussein Bin Talal University in Maan, with a fully covered education in order to encourage students to study in remote governorates to boost the development process there. A total of 1,400 students refused to accept that opportunity, and many of these registered in the parallel programme in universities close to their residences.

Commenting on the chances universities have for investments, Dmour said regulations do not ban universities from creating partnerships with the private sector or implement investment projects.

However, the budget woes remain a serious hindrance before completing such ambitious plans, according to the official.

Meanwhile, Dmour called on the private sector to redirect corporate social responsibility programmes towards supporting financially challenged students, invest in their education and provide them with jobs after graduation.

AMMAN — Parliament is a public place by nature and is thus classified as among the non-smoking areas listed in the Public Health Law, a senator and former health minister said on Tuesday.  

“Because Parliament, especially under the Dome, is a place where senators, deputies, ministers, citizens and even schoolchildren are frequently present, it is a public place by default,” Senator Yassin Husban said.

In its discussions of amendments to the anti-smoking Public Health Law on Monday, the Senate voted down a proposal to include Parliament as among the public places where smoking is prohibited. 

“The proposal was rejected because we did not want to sound as if we were challenging the Lower House,” Husban told The Jordan Times. “As per the international health conventions Jordan signed, the two Houses of Parliament are among non-smoking places.”

The former minister also said that, under the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which Jordan ratified in 2008, smoking should be prohibited at parliaments.

In 2014, the Senate endorsed a recommendation by its health committee to prohibit smoking under the Dome.

“The Senate president at the time ordered the removal of all ashtrays from under the Dome, and senators’ offices and meeting halls. Several Upper House members are smokers, including former premiers, but no one has ever smoked during sessions since 2014,” the senator added.

However, in previous remarks to The Jordan Times, head of the House Health and Environment Committee Deputy Raed Hijazeen noted that the Dome is not considered a public area, but a place that is designated for lawmakers, ministers and those who are permitted to attend the session.

“We hope that one day we can ban smoking under the Dome, which is a sort of a private room where lawmakers and government officials gather,” he said.

History is not encouraging. In 2004, noted the MP, lawmakers were banned from smoking, but meetings started to lose quorum when deputies left ongoing deliberations to smoke outside.

“This prompted the speaker to allow smoking inside,” Hijazeen, himself a smoker, noted earlier this month after the Lower House passed the 2015 amendments to the Public Health Law, stiffening the penalty for smoking in public places. 

The House did not include the Dome as among the non-smoking areas despite some lawmakers’ demand. 

Under the new amendments, a prison term from one to three months or a fine no less than JD100 and no more than JD200 will be imposed on those caught smoking cigarettes or any tobacco product in public places.

Under the law, a “public place” is defined as the place designed to receive the public or a certain category of people like hospitals and schools. 

Jordanians’ annual consumption of cigarettes is estimated at around 1.7 million cartons at a cost of more than JD0.5 billion, according to official figures.

Around 34 per cent of Jordanians between the ages of 13 and 15 consume tobacco, while over 40 per cent of individuals within the same age group have tried tobacco products, according to WHO.

Tobacco consumption rate among Jordanians is expected to reach 50 per cent by 2025, WHO has said.

AMMAN — The government has pledged to cover the cost of the remaining treatment of MP Mariam Lozi (Amman, 5th District), according to her colleague Mahmoud Kharabsheh.

During Tuesday’s Lower House session, MP Kharabsheh (Balqa, 1st District) said the parliamentary committee following up on the issue has met with Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, who pledged to cover the remainder of the cost of Lozi’s treatment. 

House Speaker Atef Tarawneh pointed out that His Majesty King Abdullah has directed the government to cover the cost.

For her part, Lozi said she is now suffering as the result of some “medical errors” which are “threatening her life”. 

She also said that the government has only paid JD44,000 of her treatment bill, which has reached around JD1 million. 

In October 2013, Lozi left for the US for treatment. 

In a letter she sent to the House in June 2014, the lawmaker said the cost of the medical treatment and the surgery she had undergone reached JD800,000. 

In the letter, a copy of which was seen by The Jordan Times, Lozi said that her son-in-law, who has been living in the US for more than 20 years, had to sell some property to pay the hospital. 

At the time, Lozi said she received JD34,000 from the government, adding that the hospital where she had the surgery has agreed to receive monthly instalments.

AMMAN – Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Tuesday met with Martin Cerisola, chief of the new International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to Jordan and the accompanying delegation, which included Kristina Kostial, the former chief of mission.

Discussions covered the previous cooperation projects between Jordan and the IMF, and means of coordination to improve the Kingdom’s economy, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Ensour said Jordan cooperates with the IMF to benefit from its expertise, considering it as reference used by all countries. Reports issued by the IMF on any country’s economy can help secure grants and loans from donor countries, the premier added. 

AMMAN — The general assembly of the Jordan Engineers Association's (JEA) pension fund on Monday issued the annual report on the fund, a JEA statement said. 

The general assembly also approved the pension fund's budget for 2016 and commissioned the JEA council to choose auditors, while seven names were nominated for the membership of the committee to look into objections on the council's decisions. 

JEA President Majid Tabaa said, the association will continue opening new investment windows in order to vary the fund's revenue resources in light of the economic crisis in the region. 

He added that last year, several events affected the fund's progress and performance, as many of the association's projects were halted in 2015 at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs because of conflict over revenues. 

Commenting on the fund's budget, Tabaa said the book value of the fund's assets in 2015 amounted to JD208.1 million, whereas their market value amounted to JD365.4 million. 

The fund's revenues increased to around JD27.6 million, of which investment gains reached JD7.5 million, he noted, adding that the fund's spending on pensions and other finances reached JD25.9 million. 

As for pension revenue, Tabaa said it increased to JD20.1 million compared to 2014, JD17.2 million of which was in premiums and extra fees.

The JEA includes 130,000 members, 40,000 of whom work abroad, Tabba said in January during a meeting with Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, adding that there are around 57,000 engineering students in the Kingdom and 15,000 students abroad.

AMMAN — King’s Military Adviser and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff Gen. Mashal Al Zaben on Tuesday received a Kuwaiti delegation led by Maj. Gen. Jamal Al Thiab, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

They discussed ways to enhance military cooperation, in addition to regional and international developments.

AMMAN — The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) has launched a national initiative dubbed “We face drugs through awareness”, in cooperation with public, private, local community and media institutions, the Public Security Department (PSD) announced Tuesday. During the launching ceremony, PSD Director Maj. Gen. Atef Saudi said PSD personnel’s “exceptional efforts” in fighting drugs have succeeded in limiting the activities of drug dealers and consumers, referring to the strong partnership between AND and its regional and international counterparts, according to a PSD statement.

He also praised messages aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of narcotics, highlighting that responsible media outlets have the biggest role in warning the public against drugs.

AMMAN — Senate President Faisal Fayez on Tuesday honoured the cast and crew of the Academy Award-nominated Jordanian feature film “Theeb”.

During a ceremony organised by the Senate tourism committee, Fayez said the film proved young Jordanians’ capability to excel in different fields, including culture, arts and filmmaking, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. Senator Adel Tweisi, chair of the committee, highlighted the importance of such films in marketing Jordan and its tourist sites, Petra added.

Since its release in international film festivals in August 2014, “Theeb”, directed and co-scripted by Naji Abu Nowar, has been screened in 25 countries, winning over 20 awards. At the end of the ceremony, committee members distributed gifts to the film’s cast and crew, Petra reported.