AMMAN -- Higher education in Jordan needs a "change of mentality" at all levels, starting with the entire concept of 'the university,' the way to tap students' potential and regulations governing the sector, according to a leading academic.
President of the Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT) Hisham Ghassib told The Jordan Times that so far in Jordan the concept of the modern university "has not been realised."
"Knowledge has become the major driving force in international economy," Ghassib said, "but we have not yet fully realised that."
Although Jordanian universities are doing much better than their Arab peers, they remain part of an Arab higher education system that has failed to respond to the spirit of the age, he added, citing an international index that ranks only one Arab university at the bottom of a list of 3,000 world universities.
In contrast, some Israeli universities are among the top 100 on the list, compiled by the International Rankings Experts Group founded in 2004 by UNESCO-CEPES in Bucharest and the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, DC.
As a nonprofit university, affiliated to the country's leading scientific institution, the Royal Scientific Society, the PSUT seeks to play a model role in furthering higher education by applying an "authentic and realistic approach," said Ghassib.
"Our resources are limited, but we are doing our best to move ahead to realise the concept of a proper university."
The official said a change in attitudes should start with the way universities deal with their students, so that when these young people graduate they become productive citizens and are able to play a positive role in their communities.
Ghassib said focus should be placed on promoting free thinking, whereas the current system produces students that are "submissive to all the powers of the society."
The PSUT president said applying this approach at his university had rendered positive results.
The university's students have had the best scores in the Achievement Exam for two years in a row, since the inception of the test as a tool of quality assurance, although PSUT students, as a rule, are not the best achievers in the Tawjihi exams.
He said the university had also remained "violence free," at a time when several other higher education institutions have been marred by student violence.
PSUT students have also done well in exchange programmes with universities in the US, including University of Central Florida and the University of Illinois.
Student exchange is a key component of the university's strategy to broaden the horizons of its students. The university has also entered into partnerships with several EU counterparts in a bid to set up joint graduate programmes.
Ghassib highlighted the need for higher education institutions to focus on market-oriented majors and cooperate with the private sector, citing the establishment of three firms as "IT incubators" at the university (Oracle, STS and Sybase) for purposes of internship and recruitment.
The PSUT has also recently established the Queen Rania Entrepreneurship Centre to train students on business culture.
In terms of regulations governing the sector, the official said the university planned to introduce graduate programmes but had to put the plans on hold as a result of restrictions imposed by the Higher Education Council.
Ghassib criticised the ivory tower approach among officials. "I do not say they should compromise quality, but they should be realistic because they are imposing rules that only fit in top-notch universities in the advanced world."
"It is like they are asking a child learning English to speak it like Tony Blair," the academic said.
The interview with Ghassib took place a couple of days before a panel charged by the Higher Education Council to look into PhD programmes at local universities recommended a freezing of enrolment in certain specialisations and limiting the number of enrolled students. In its report, the panel explained that the programmes recommended for suspension lacked qualified teaching staff, while others were overcrowded.
By Mahmoud Al Abed
© Jordan Times 2006
