Jordan is reconsidering the number of places available in medicine and dentistry at public universities, three years into a policy of gradually reducing them, after the prime minister directed that the question be reopened.
اضافة اعلان
Azmi Mahafzah, who holds both the education and higher education portfolios, said any increase would be examined rather than granted, and would depend on university capacity, labour market demand, the availability of faculty, clinical training facilities and infrastructure. Exceeding what universities can absorb would damage the quality of medical education, Mahafzah warned.
The review reverses direction. In September 2023 the Higher Education Council approved a plan running to the 2027-2028 academic year to cut admissions to the two fields, citing educational quality, capacity limits and graduate unemployment. The pressure now runs the other way, driven by the number of Jordanian students enrolling in medical schools outside the Kingdom.
Competition for places
This year 2,788 Jordanian students scored 95 per cent or above in the general secondary examination, and 6,112 scored 90 per cent or above. In the health stream, 26,045 students reached the 65 per cent threshold, down from 35,927 last year.
Health programmes offer roughly 20,976 places across about 150 programmes. Around 74,000 students have applied through unified admission in recent years, against some 44,000 to 45,000 places across all specialisations.
Parliamentary pressure
Ibrahim Al-Qaraleh, who chairs the Lower House education committee, said the committee has submitted a memorandum recommending higher admission numbers and expanded capacity in health fields, and was awaiting a response from the relevant authorities. The committee's next steps depend on that reply, Al-Qaraleh explained.
MP Jamil Dahisat framed the issue in economic terms. Expanding medical faculties is not only an educational question, Dahisat argued, because students who cannot secure a place at home take their tuition spending abroad. He described Mahafzah's announcement as a response to demands raised in parliament and a step in the right direction, provided the quality of medical education holds.
Capacity claims from the universities
Salama Al-Nuaimat, president of Mutah University, went furthest. Public universities hold infrastructure, academic staff and training capacity beyond their current quotas, Al-Nuaimat said, and Mutah has already shown it can take an additional 50 students in its medical faculty.
Al-Nuaimat suggested admissions could be studied at levels well above those of recent years, potentially double current capacity, so long as any increase rests on each university's actual ability to provide clinical training and faculty. He pointed to the record of Jordanian medical graduates in securing residencies and employment abroad as evidence the system can absorb more without losing standing. The alternative, he said, is educational spending leaving the country with the students.
Next step
Muhannad Al-Khatib, spokesperson for the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, told Al-Ghad the question of places in medicine and dentistry will go before the Higher Education Council, which will examine numbers, university capacity and available resources before any decision.
Source: Al-Ghad. Reporting by Ghada Al-Sheikh
