Abu-Ghazaleh Stresses on the need to Establish an Educational Indicators Monitoring Center

18 Sep 2013   AMMAN, September 18, 2013– The Jordan Economic Observatory held a seminar at Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Knowledge Forum to discuss the results concluded by the Higher Education and Scientific Research taskforce in the presence of HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman of the Economic Policy Development Forum. The discussion was moderated by Vice Chairman Ms. Reem Badran and attended by elite of experts in this field.
 
Dr. Issam Za’balawi, head of the Taskforce, delivered a comprehensive presentation of the report’s contents, in which he tackled the emergence and development of the higher education sector in the Kingdom as well as the status quo, indicators, challenges, obstacles and consequences. He also diagnosed the actual situation of the higher education sector in terms of students, staff and stakeholders from the perspectives of the faculty, the university management and the profession’s regulators such as syndicates, unions, associations, parents and society.
 
The report outlines the proposed policies and future indicators while focusing on “governance and government management”. It emphasizes the significance of financial, administrative and academic autonomy of universities, and the necessity to reconsider the composition and tasks of the universities’ board of trustees. The report also tackles the need for preparing and applying cumulative plans for the educational institutions, implementing the educational information management system and qualifying the academic and administrative leaderships as well as universities.
 
The suggestions focused on the “admission requirements” as per the standards of fairness, equal opportunity, competitive bases as well as on setting admission requirements for students applying beyond the standardized admission framework. The suggestions focused also on "Accreditation and Quality Assurance" issue which emphasizes the application of public and private accreditation standards to the higher education institutions operating in Jordan, and the development and application of quality assurance system in all educational institutions. Furthermore, the report suggests a plan to attract qualified faculty as per qualitative performance standards, and to update the educational programs and curricula.
 
In addition, a focus was also made on the “scientific research, development and graduate studies” issue in order to activate the role of the scientific research fund to achieve its goals, improve the research environment, encourage the scientific teams, support outstanding graduate students and link the scientific research with the inclusive development objectives.
 
As for the “technical and technological education”, the report recommends to reconsider the study programs and majors offered at the university and middle community colleges, expand the technological education (bachelor) and promote the vocational culture among students.           
 
With respect to the “Universities Financing” issue, the report calls for supporting the Higher Education Fund to enhance universities financing, continuously repaying debts payable on the public universities by the government, creating the university student bank for scholarships and loans to cover as much as possible of the student needs. The report also calls for establishing charity funds and excellence centers in each university, and covering the capital cost of the public universities by the government.
 
As regards the "Community Service and Development", a focus was made on promoting collaboration, increasing positive interaction, maximizing the university’s contribution to the community development and enhancing the volunteering work among students. The attendees presented their valuable inputs which enriched the discussion.
 
Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh appreciated the efforts exerted by the taskforce headed by Dr. Za’balawi to accomplish the report and he called for establishing a center to monitor and follow up the outputs of the indicators under the supervision of the Arab Organization for Quality Assurance in Education (AROQAE) and under the umbrella of the League of Arab States through its regional office in Jordan, and to prepare indicators to monitor the education quality standards in Jordan.
 
Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh pointed out the importance and necessity of using the information and communication technology to utilize the joint study prepared by Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization in cooperation with the UNESCO about the utilization of the information technology in education to submit necessary recommendations. Abu-Ghazaleh also stressed on the significance of the accreditation of the e-learning which is the future of education in this knowledge era.
 
Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh also highlighted the universities’ huge financial crisis where he said that the main reasons behind this financial crisis are the cost of maintaining landscapes, gardens, and vast lands around the buildings, in addition to the high administrative expenses compared to the academic expenses.
 
Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh concluded by saying "We have an important working paper by which we can contribute to the change to the best, and the Observatory shall help us monitor and follow up the results of the working paper on a continuous basis."
 
It is worth mentioning that the Higher Education and Scientific Research taskforce comprises Dr. Issam Za’balawi, Dr. Abdul Rahim Huneeti, Dr. Muntaha Ghareibeh, Dr. Mohammad Abu Qdais, Dr. Taleb Al Saree, Dr. Anwar Bateekhi, Dr. Hmoud Olaimat, Dr. Abdul Karim Al Qudah, and Dr. Naeem Al Thaher.