Jordan's cabinet approves $7mln additional support for public universities

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Sunday approved a proposal from the Higher Education Ministry designating JD5 million as extra support to public Jordanian universities as part of the government's 2020 budget, according to a Higher Education Ministry statement.

The amount will be dedicated to the Student Support Fund, in addition to the JD21 million already designated to support universities. The statement said that the decision will allow more students to benefit from internal scholarships and grants.

The number of students who applied properly to internal scholarships amounted to 59,000 students, of whom 35,257 were nominated during the first round of results, the ministry said, adding that this makes the number of beneficiaries this year close to the number of the academic year 2018-2019.

The ministry is still reviewing the online applications of students who contested the results and checking related documents before announcing the final results next week.

The total value of the grants and scholarships reached JD59.5 million, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported, adding that each grant amounts to up to JD1,500 on average, covering 45 study hours.

After the Higher Education Ministry initially announced its grant, loan and scholarship awardees, 24,491 students contested the results, the ministry announced earlier.

At the time, the ministry said that universities are cooperating and have postponed due dates for tuition fees for students included in the initial results until the issuance of the final results.