For the first time, Jordan's high school students - known as Tawjihi candidates - are navigating the unified admissions process under the country's new fields and tracks system. The change does more than alter how applications are submitted to public universities; it redefines the range of options available to students and the terms on which they compete for places.
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The Ministry of Education and Human Resources maintains that the field-based system does not narrow students' choices. Figures cited by Dr. Muhannad Al-Khatib, Director of the Unified Admission Coordination Unit, appear to support that position: students in the health field may compete for more than 151 specialisations, while those in the engineering field may compete for more than 177 specialisations across the ten public universities.
The new secondary school system requires students to commit early to a field of study aligned with their intended university path, allowing them to focus on subjects relevant to their anticipated major. Al-Khatib said the approach aims to make competition fairer by ensuring students are assessed against peers who studied the same subjects.
The final allocation of seats in each specialisation will be determined after applicant numbers are compiled, with the Higher Education Council taking the relevant decisions, Al-Khatib said.
In an exclusive statement to Al-Ghad, Al-Khatib said approximately 74,000 students applied for bachelor's degree places and about 24,000 for associate degree places in the current academic year. The bachelor's degree figure is broadly in line with last year: data from the Ministry of Education and Human Resources show 74,521 students submitted valid applications and paid unified admissions fees for the 2025–2026 academic year.
Alongside the changes to admissions rules, the Unified Admissions Coordination Unit has modified its electronic application software to reduce the errors students make when selecting majors. Al-Khatib said the new system was designed to pre-load the data of students who passed the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination, together with their academic records supplied by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources.
Academic Dr. Islam Masad offered a cautious assessment. Speaking to Al-Ghad, he said it is too early to draw firm conclusions before the unified admissions results are published, since competition shifts each year with changes in student grades and preferences. He nonetheless identified expected challenges, centred on the level of preparedness for the broader transformation of the education system.
Masad said the absence of sufficient forward-looking analysis of university admissions - conducted in parallel with changes to the secondary school system - risks creating problems during implementation. He added that the lack of a phased rollout, combined with limited university readiness and an immature vocational education system, could compound those difficulties. He pointed to decisions issued after the first year of the new system as evidence that more thorough preparation was needed.
Academic Dr. Haitham Arifaj took a different angle. He said that improving the admissions software and reducing data-entry errors does not address the core problem of specialisation choice, arguing that the starting point should be an analysis of labour market needs and students' own capacities and inclinations - not examination results alone.
Arifaj said a student's secondary school performance does not necessarily reflect what they want to study, citing as an example high-achieving students who opt for fields such as cybersecurity over medicine. He called for students' abilities and aspirations to be matched against job market needs - including regional markets beyond Jordan - based on projections covering approximately ten years.
He suggested introducing specific assessment mechanisms or admission criteria for each specialisation to gauge a student's suitability, arguing that the current unified admissions system does not fully reflect students' realities and does not ensure they are directed toward majors that suit both their abilities and the demands of the job market.
This article was originally written in Arabic by Ghada Al-Sheikh for Al Ghad.
