Session Highlights
1. Competitiveness
I Four papers addressed the regional and international opportunities for Jordan to emerge as an educational hub and to carve for itself a niche in the evolving world of knowledge based economies. This window of opportunity emanates from the fact that knowledge based economies are not constrained by demographic parameters (e.g. population size and age distribution); nor are they constrained by the abundance of natural resources. The principal driver in knowledge based economies is the knowledge and skills of their working citizens. When the required cluster of skills and knowledge are provided in sufficient quality and quantity, economic growth will flourish.
II Higher education plays a double barrel role in this scheme. It is, on the one hand, the engine to generate a knowledgeable and highly skilled labor force through their pedagogic and training programs; and on the other hand it is the venue to develop new knowledge, for technology transfer and adaptation, and for maintaining the resilience of the social fabric of our society as we engage our selves in these new technical developments.
III Competitiveness is underpinned by staying current with international standards of knowledge and skills. This entails a continuing updating of programs, facilities, and equipment as well as an effective program of professional development of faculty members in institutions of higher learning.
IV Competitiveness in higher education is further underpinned by an environment of open minds, freedom of endeavor, and freedom of expression within the boundaries of proper academic ethics and tradition.
V Finally, competitiveness in higher education is closely linked to a well tuned system of quality assurance. When fully armed with a competitive higher education system, Jordan will become the place of choice for the eminent students among those in the region who are aspiring to pursue a college education. It will further be the place of choice for highly qualified faculty members who can find in Jordan the right intellectual environment which is conducive to freedom of thinking and freedom of investigation.
VI Graduates of such a system will surely possess the knowledge base and the skills level to energize economic growth. The innovation and problem solving skills that they will have acquired will increase productivity, create jobs, and enhance social prosperity. Their chances to land lucrative jobs will be better, and their potential for superior performance in the jobs they land will also be higher.
2. Governance
I. Two in-depth analytical reviews of current governance structures were presented. Both focused on external governance, with minor references to internal governance structures. A similar analytical review of internal structures is needed to complete the picture.
II. Both presentations proposed a governance structure characterized by the following principles:
a. Autonomy of higher education institutions (HEI's).
b. Accountability of HEI's and of their management.
c. Decentralization of management.
d. Transparency of procedures.
e. Adoption of market principles (market information, quality assurance, and performance indicators).
III. In light of these principles, it was proposed to reform the composition and the roles of the following governance bodies:
a. The Higher Education Council and its relationship to the Ministry (Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research) and the Minister.
b. The Accreditation Council.
c. The Higher Committee for Scientific Research.
d. Boards of Trustees of state universities.
IV. Proposals were also made to reform the process of appointment of HEI presidents and other senior positions in higher education.
V. Some diverse views were expressed in the discussion of certain components of the proposed governance structure.
VI. It was stressed, however, that some reform measures are overdue; and that the proposed governance reforms should be considered within the strategic and long term context. Reform will have to be implemented in stages, as long as the course is steady and on target, allowing adequate midcourse review and assessment at each stage of implementation.
3. University Financing
I Three papers were presented. The first one described the current situation in Jordan, and explored several alternate options ranging from one extreme of total coverage of university expenditures by the government to the other extreme of complete recovery of university education through student fees, and including some scenarios of cost sharing between these two extremes. The second paper outlined international experience in the area of linking government funding to university performance as well as to the implementation of certain programs targeted by governments. The third paper presented some case studies of international experience in the area of student aid and student loan programs.
II Data were presented on the steady growth of university enrollment over the last two decades, on the parallel increase in the cost of education, on the slow and sporadic rise in student fees, and on the concurrent steep and steady decline in the per capita allocations to universities. The prognosis was a clear warning that state universities are in a financial crisis, and bold measure are called for to mitigate this very serious condition.
III The pros and cons of cost sharing were elaborated in detail. The ensuing discussion seemed to favor a formula of restructuring the entire set of procedures of university funding that should be constrained by the following conditions:
a) Student fees should be allowed to be raised to the point of covering the full cost of instruction (rather than the full cost of running a university) on a discipline by discipline basis and on a university by university basis.
b) A major policy issue related to student admission and access arises at this juncture which requires a very comprehensive analysis and modeling leading to an equally major policy decision. The policy should be clearly articulated and systematically adhered to, and the ensuing legislation should specify the site of responsibility for its implementation. In this regard, it is the management of each university that should be charged with the implementation of this policy under the guidance and supervision of its respective Board of Trustees.
c) In line with the goal of fiscal autonomy of state universities, all students in a university must pay their tuition and fees in full without any exemptions. Fees of students who are entitled to any kind of partial or full tuition waiver in compliance with other legislations must be covered by the government (e.g. reciprocal grant agreements with other countries, students with physical handicaps, sons and daughters of disabled veterans, recipients of Royal grants, etc.).
d) Meritorious students should be enabled to pursue higher education regardless of their ability to pay for their tuition. Tuition and fees of such students will be covered by government allocations to higher education.
e) A comprehensive program of diversified student aid services (full and partial grants, secured and unsecured loans, specially designed loans where the government assumes the interest component of the loan while the student assumes only the loan value, etc.) should be established to target meritorious but needy students.
f) The mix of grants, partial grants, and loans of the said program should be designed so that paybacks on loans will provide sufficient revenues to sustain the program after a prescribed number of years where the government will have to allocate the needed funds. A simulation model will be required to support the design parameters of the program and to rationalize the annual allocations by the government in the initial build-up phase.
g) The said comprehensive program avails the government of an opportunity to structure it in such a way that student aid (in the form of grants, loans, or any variation thereof) can be leveraged to secure graduates from certain localities or with certain specialties to ensure the availability of human resource capacity for specific sectoral and/or regional development.
h) University expenditures on physical facilities, acquisition of land, or on upgrading or rehabilitation of existing facilities should be covered by government allocations. Procedures for securing such allocations need to be clearly articulated and duly legislated. Such expenditures should not include the cost of regular maintenance and upkeep of existing facilities.
i) University expenditures on scientific research and development should not be derived from revenues based on student tuition and fees. Such expenditures should rather be derived from a special fund set aside for this purpose. The fund should be managed in a way that is open to all state universities and their academic faculties on a competitive basis. Part of this fund may be opened to faculty members in private universities according to a fund matching formula that could be worked out and agreed to.
j) The cost of rendering university services to the community should not be derived from tuition-based revenues also. The cost of services to the community should be covered by a lump sum government allocation to each state university. In return for these allocations, universities need to be required to submit an annual program of community service, subject to amendments and final approval by the Higher Education Council before appropriations are dispensed in a line item and on a year by year basis.
IV The resulting scheme must be consistent with the following paradigms related to university funding:
a) Students pay only for the cost of their education, while other costs of running and operating a university (research and development, community service) shall be covered by government appropriations.
b) State universities will be allowed to set student fees and tuition under the supervision and guidance of their respective Boards of Trustees.
c) Government appropriations will also cover the tuition and fees of meritorious but needy students through a multi-faceted student aid program with built-in fiscal sustainability.
d) Government appropriations will also cover the tuition and fees of all entitlements of waivers requested or enacted by the government, decreed by the Royal Court, or as a result of bi-national agreements entered into by the government.
e) The funding scheme shall ensure that all academically meritorious students desiring to pursue college education shall be enabled to do so regardless of their ability to pay for their tuition. The standard of merit to be included under this umbrella shall be set objectively and according to very transparent and fair practices.
f) Management of state universities shall be fully accountable to their respective Boards of Trustees in all fiscal matters.
V The foregoing restructuring of university funding and student aid programs will inevitably have profound social and political repercussions on a wide basis. The ensuing plan of action and implementation will have to be mindful of these repercussions, and will have to be astutely and cleverly designed.
4. Quality Assurance (QA)
I Four papers were presented in this session. The first one was a presentation about the contribution of the Tempus program to higher education in Jordan. Various types of program activities were described to highlight the scope of these contributions and the extensity of participation by Jordanian universities. The impact of the program included many aspects that were related directly and sometimes indirectly to improvement of higher education quality in Jordan. These impacts comprised the following:
a) Provision of pedagogic and research facilities, technologies, and equipment of world class standards.
b) Provision of partnership opportunities with counterpart European universities with all the interaction and exposure that became available to Jordanian faculty members who participated in Tempus activities.
c) Provision of faculty and student exchange at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
II The second paper was a presentation on best practices for enhancing quality and relevance in higher education, utilizing the author's experience in this area in Chile. The forth paper highlighted the experience of South Africa as a case study of building a quality assurance system. Both papers emphasized the importance of self assessment in higher education institutions as the foundation of a successful QA system. "Quality" is a goal, and the QA system is a tool to ensure that such a goal is achieved. A working definition of this goal needs to be stated clearly, and this definition needs to be aligned with the mission and vision of higher education. If the vision includes a capacity level of graduates that enables them to be competitive in the international job market, the goal will be different from the case where we are only educating students for the local job market. The definition should not be a rigid one, but rather should be amenable to programmed revision as goals and standards evolve.
The two papers also recommended that the QA program should include several components, and that licensing of higher education institutions was only one of these components. Accreditation should be managed on a program by program basis. When a program is not accredited, it should have been flagged by the internal self assessment of the program prior to any judgment issued by the QA commission. When such a condition arises, it should be indicative that the internal self assessment is failing. The scope of internal self assessment should be substantially comprehensive to include curricula, course content, pedagogical efficiency, and testing and evaluation skills. In addition, self assessment should address the provision of equipment, facilities, access to information resources and data bases, and the nature of interaction between instructors and students.
There was also a recommendation that the QA commission should be autonomous and able to conduct its functions and pursue its mission with a high degree of professionalism. It should also be free from any political encumbrances or any shades of conflict of interest.
III The third paper was a presentation on the Jordan experience in accreditation and licensing as practiced by the Accreditation Council. The paper described in detail the development of university licensing and program accreditation regulations and procedures, and outlined the main features of the outlook for the future of QA. The discussion was preceded with a description of facts and figures related to higher education in Jordan. The rapid growth of student enrollment in public and private universities, the lack of compatibility between graduates and the requirement of the local and regional labor market, the declining standards of curricula in relation to world standards, the excessive redundancy in degree programs offered by all universities and especially among private universities, the declining faculty/student ratios in all universities, the absence of specific human resource development programs especially in private universities, the low financial allocations to R&D in public universities and its near absence in private ones, and the absence of any perceptible commitment to QA by university management and faculty members alike were all noted. It was also noted that quality assurance programs should comprise the setting of standards for admission policies, standards for instructional and learning processes, standards for concurrent student activities and intellectual engagement, standards for knowledge and skills to be acquired in the various degree programs offered by a university, indices of employability upon graduation and measures of job competitiveness, measures of performance of graduates on jobs, and measures of the overall performance of graduates in the business and public life. QA programs were also described as tools to enable universities to cope with social and technical changes so that their programs remain relevant and up to date.
5. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
I Two papers were presented in this session. The first was a general thematic presentation on the latest advances in the use of ICT in higher education. The second one described the experience of Jordan in developing the use of ICT in higher education.
II The use of ICT in higher education is rapidly expanding and it is difficult to predict future changes because the changes in hardware, software, and in their applications are extremely rapid, and the concomitant social changes imposed by them are also very profound.
III In this environment of world wide change, it is becoming possible for small countries to compete, and Jordan stands a good chance of becoming a world competitor.
IV The cost of embarking on such a program may be high, but Jordan should contemplate the cost of not doing it rather than the cost of doing it. If Jordan succeeds in reaching its full ICT potential, then it will have maximized the use of its resources (i.e. brain power), improved its per capita gross domestic product, and improved its standard of living. In other words it will truly become a knowledge based economy.
V There are certain requirements to successfully implement such a strategy. First and foremost, there should be a resilient commitment to a clearly articulated policy with no wavering or hesitation. The task should begin at the level of elementary schools and should be expanded to encompass all levels of education including higher education. The program should target the ease of use of ICT and the ease of access to its use. Students at all levels should be engulfed with ICT until it becomes virtually invisible, and its use becomes second nature to them.
VI Advances in ICT will promote good pedagogy and pedagogical practices. Good pedagogy will remain the driver for technology in education. With the already recognized role changes of instructors from teaching to facilitating, the drive to make instruction based on enquiry, and focused on problem solving and creative thinking, ICT will become a tool to enrich curricula and to enable students to sharpen all the skills they learn in the educational system.
VII The second paper described Jordan's action plan to develop the use of ICT in higher education. The plan is quite comprehensive in coverage, and ambitious in goals. The plan needs to be subjected to peers review and evaluation before it is officially adopted.
6. Research and Development
I Two papers were presented: the first a thematic presentation on the best practices in research and development for building a knowledge based economy, and the second an expose of Jordan's experience in promoting research and development.
II The first paper outlined the fundamental difference between a resource driven economy and a knowledge driven economy. A resource driven economy, obviously, depends greatly on the availability of resources. A knowledge driven economy does not preclude the utilization of resources for economic growth, but adds to it a novel type of resource, that being knowledge. Operating together, economic growth is propelled to new and higher levels. The case of Finland was cited to illustrate this point.
III The synergy of merging knowledge with natural resources is a powerful combination in it self, but it also improves the efficiency of utilization of natural resources. Knowledge is in fact a type of resource rooted in the context of human resources. The concept of a knowledge based economy was visualized by a new model of economic growth. The model explains how labor and capital are brought to bear on an engine comprised of three intermeshed gears: education, research, and technology. The gears work in tandem to drive economic growth. The ramifications of knowledge and the acquired skills of know-how are always enhanced by the products of innovation to widen the base of knowledge and know-how.
IV The distinguishing feature of a thriving knowledge based economy is always exhibited by a strong relationship between venues of R&D on the one hand, and business and industry on the other. Whether these venues are primarily the academic setting, or they include other private centers of R&D is not important. The higher the degree of networking of companies with R&D centers is the higher will be the productivity rate and the higher the overall employment rate.
V The second paper gave some data on the state of R&D in Jordan, along with some benchmarking with some other countries. The low levels of funding and the resulting low levels of research output were highlighted. Research activities lacked coherence and relevance to industrial growth and business development. Research activities were described as being virtually confined to the academic domain, and there was a pronounced absence of an effective networking structure to link R&D activities with the stakeholders and beneficiaries of R&D output. The paper also provided some suggestions on ameliorating the current situation. These suggestions emphasized the following topics:
1. Developing an effective management structure to manage the newly established research fund.
2. Promote R&D research programs of relevance and significance to the national economy.
3. Provide incentives and awards to outstanding R&D activities.
4. Promote the publication of specialized and refereed world class R&D national journals in all the necessary disciplines.
5. Introduce the practice of hiring post-doctoral fellows to be engaged in R&D programs.
6. Develop suitable software to archive and retrieve national R&D output in Arabic and in English.
7. Introduce the subjects of research methodology, the scientific method, creative thinking and problem solving in undergraduate curricula.
7. Technical Education
I This session focused on technical education provided by community colleges. Two papers were presented on this subject. The first was a thematic presentation on challenges and best practice models of technical education, and the second highlighted the Jordanian experience in this area.
II There were several contextual and working definitions of “technical education" given in the first paper. It was recognized as an educational option among the several options under the general headline of post-secondary education, or under higher or tertiary education. For our purposes, “Professional technical education is a program of study that integrates technical and career proficiencies with academic content; and prepares students for the workplace, (for) further education and training, and for family and community roles".
III Several challenges were identified and they included:
a) Accessibility in the physical sense to ensure their presence close to reasonably sized communities.
b) Affordability in terms of the cost to the student and in terms of all the management skills needed to reduce program duplication, identify opportunities to for shared use of facilities, and ultimately reduce the cost of operating and running the institutions.
c) Accountability with respect to fiscal matters as well as program content and program delivery.
d) Relevance to current and projected job requirements, with due emphasis on turning out good citizens. The learners should also possess the relevant aptitudes to enable them to grasp the required skills of the program.
e) Responsiveness to a changing world with rapidly changing technologies and the need to remain current with the local, regional, and international trends in skills requirements.
f) Governance models, with the proper balance between the need to be directed by the government and yet be responsive to social demands.
g) Social stereotyping of technical education.
h) Engaging industry into a real partnership in an effort to replace the common practice of the costly on-the-job training of newly hired technicians.
IV The best practices model for technical education focused on four components:
a) Educational linkages.
b) Labor market linkages.
c) Strategies for running evaluation and continuous improvement.
d) Internationalization based on benchmarking with international standards of program content and skill levels.
V The second paper gave an assessment of community colleges in Jordan in terms of their programs and their linkages to the academic domain and the labor market. Several weak areas were identified, and some reform measures were proposed. The presentation and the ensuing discussion identified the lack of clarity of mission as the most crucial issue in community college programs, and the overall social stereotyping of technical education as next crucial issue. The labor market, both locally and regionally, exhibits a large demand for technically educated graduates (technicians), yet the inclination of young people is more to the academic fields rather than the technical fields. Should community colleges acquiesce to this misguided inclination, or should they be more proactive in attracting students into technical education programs is a major issue that needs to be resolved.