By: Abdulrahman Al-Khawaldeh
Amman – Countries around the world are racing to expand their gains from the “education economy” by creating attractive educational environments for international students, attracting academic institutions and scientific events, and transforming higher education from a knowledge-based service into an economic sector capable of generating revenues, attracting foreign currency, and stimulating related economic sectors.
اضافة اعلان
Amid this global competition, Jordan has several advantages that could strengthen its position on the regional education map.
The Kingdom attracts thousands of international students, enjoys a solid educational reputation, and offers stability, a strategic geographic location, and competitive costs compared with other educational destinations.
Jordan’s position has been further strengthened recently after Amman topped the list of the best student cities in the Arab world, according to the QS Best Student Cities 2026–2027 ranking. Amman ranked second in the Middle East and 69th globally.
With the rise of new fields centered on artificial intelligence, technology, and the digital economy, Jordan has an opportunity to redefine international education as an integrated economic sector.
Its impact extends beyond university tuition fees to housing, transportation, restaurants, telecommunications, healthcare, entertainment, and tourism, creating a comprehensive cycle of spending within the national economy.
55,000 International Students and JD700 Million in Annual Spending
The number of non-Jordanian international students enrolled at Jordanian universities at the beginning of the 2025–2026 academic year reached approximately 55,410 students from 119 countries, representing 11.5% of the total university student population of around 480,000, according to data from the Ministry of Education and Human Resources “formerly the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.”
Official estimates indicate that international students spend around JD700 million annually in the national economy.
This figure highlights the economic potential of international education, particularly if Jordan expands its student base and increases the average spending of each student during their stay in the Kingdom.
The benefits extend beyond universities. International students distribute their spending across a wide range of activities and services, from accommodation and food to transportation, telecommunications, healthcare, entertainment, and tourism. This makes international education similar to a services export sector that attracts foreign currency.
Amman Tops Arab Student Cities
Amman’s ranking as the best student city in the Arab world adds another dimension to Jordan’s economic opportunity.
According to the QS Best Student Cities 2026–2027 ranking, Amman placed 69th globally, second in the Middle East, and first in the Arab world, ahead of several major regional cities.
The ranking is based on several criteria, including the quality and academic reputation of universities, the diversity and proportion of international students, safety and quality of life, living and study costs, student opinions, and the strength of graduates’ reputation in the labor market.
Experts believe this international profile could serve as a marketing advantage for Jordan if incorporated into an integrated strategy aimed at attracting students from new markets and maximizing the economic impact of their stay in the Kingdom.
An International Student Is More Than a Source of Tuition Fees
Ahmad Awad, director of the Phoenix Center for Economic and Social Studies, says Jordan has a genuine opportunity to transform attracting international students from an educational advantage into a promising economic sector, particularly with the growing number of students coming to study in the Kingdom and Amman’s strengthening position as an attractive regional student city.
Awad emphasizes that viewing international students solely as a source of university tuition underestimates the sector’s true economic value.
During their years of study, students spend on accommodation, transportation, food, telecommunications, healthcare, entertainment, and tourism, thereby expanding the circle of beneficiaries across the local economy.
He adds that international education can be considered a form of services exports, as consumers come to Jordan to obtain an educational service while spending a significant portion of their income inside the Kingdom.
Awad believes that elevating higher education into an economic and productive sector requires moving beyond measuring performance by student numbers alone. Indicators should also include spending volumes, the value added generated by the sector, the jobs it creates, the quality of education, and student satisfaction.
From Increasing Numbers to Maximizing Value
Awad points to several important advantages Jordan possesses, including the relatively strong reputation of its higher education system, its geographic location, stability, an open social environment, and competitive costs compared with several educational destinations.
However, he believes these advantages have not yet been transformed into an integrated economic ecosystem.
He calls for a shift from a policy focused on increasing student numbers toward a broader strategy for building an “education economy” that connects universities with tourism, housing, transportation, investment, and the labor market.
He also calls for diversifying target markets and developing programs in postgraduate studies, Arabic language programs for non-native speakers, medical and vocational education, short courses, and academic exchange.
He stresses that strengthening Amman’s appeal as a student city also requires improving public transportation, providing organized and affordable student accommodation, and developing digital, cultural, and recreational services.
Educational Tourism Is Expanding, but Data Remains a Challenge
Economics professor Qasem Al-Hamouri says the “education economy,” sometimes referred to as educational tourism, goes beyond attracting international students to encompass the various economic impacts resulting from their presence at Jordanian universities.
He notes that the sector continues to expand, although it is more concentrated in Amman. This is natural, he says, given the capital’s concentration and diversity of services compared with other cities.
Al-Hamouri stresses that international education remains an active and important sector of the Jordanian economy, despite the decline it has experienced in recent years, noting that the decline was less severe than that experienced by the medical tourism sector.
He adds that international students generally have spending power exceeding the average income of individuals in Jordan, benefiting the housing sector through the rental of apartments, studios, and rooms, as well as restaurants, transportation, and various services associated with student life.
Al-Hamouri emphasizes the need for more comprehensive data on the number of international students and their average annual spending.
Such data would allow policymakers to determine the actual scale of spending generated by the sector and measure its economic impact more accurately.
He also highlights the importance of making use of the diversity of Jordanian universities in terms of academic programs and geographic locations, alongside the Kingdom’s educational reputation, while calling for greater regulation and coordination and stronger cooperation with the cultural attaché offices of countries whose students study in Jordan.
The Next Battle Is Not About Numbers, but Student Value
Economic expert Mousa Al-Saket considers international education a highly active and potentially high-growth economic sector, but says it has not yet reached the level of a “structured and independent economic sector” in terms of measuring its contribution to GDP and exports.
Al-Saket explains that attracting international students is effectively a form of services exports and a means of bringing spending and foreign currency into the Kingdom, in addition to strengthening the competitiveness of Jordanian universities and enhancing their regional presence.
He believes turning this advantage into a promising economic sector requires broadening the concept of international education to include an integrated package of supporting educational services and products, with a focus on high-value-added programs, particularly in medicine, engineering, technology, and postgraduate studies.
Al-Saket summarizes the next challenge as moving from attracting larger numbers of students to maximizing the economic return generated by each international student.
This can be achieved by measuring their spending and its impact across different sectors, developing housing, transportation, insurance, tourism, and activity-related services, and facilitating private-sector investment in supporting educational services.
An Economic Opportunity That Requires an Integrated Ecosystem
Although Jordan has a broad educational base, a strong regional reputation, and an attractive geographic location, transforming these advantages into a sustainable economic sector requires more than simply increasing the number of international students.
The real opportunity lies in building an education-economy ecosystem that makes international students a driver of a chain of economic activities and connects higher education with housing, transportation, tourism, services, technology, and the labor market.
With more than 55,000 international students and estimated annual spending of around JD700 million, the sector’s economic foundation is already in place.
The challenge, however, is to organize, measure, and maximize its returns, transforming international education from a fragmented economic activity into an export-oriented sector capable of attracting foreign currency, creating jobs, and supporting growth.
Therefore, Amman’s position at the top of the Arab student-city rankings should not be viewed merely as a ranking achievement.
Rather, it represents an opportunity to market Jordan as an educational and economic destination and translate the appeal of the city and Jordanian universities into greater added value for the national economy.
