Education

Key Advantages

Jordan has made great strides in educational attainment for several decades and by 2001 has reached a youth literacy rate of 91% compared to the 88% of in the Middle East. Jordan's education industry is built on strong fundamentals – extensive coverage, qualified teachers and improving facilities.

There is a forecasted increase in demand for skilled labor due to increasing demand from inflowing FDI’s targeting knowledge industries and business services that are education intensive. In fact, business services and sales, marketing and support activities will increase demand for trained personnel. Jordan’s young population, immigrating populations increase the demand for education, coined with increased market shift to knowledge-based industries. 

Key Advantages

The educational industry in Jordan shares many of the same drivers as other emerging markets, but with certain variations: a young population, immigrants in need of integration, and a strategic shift to the knowledge oriented sectors where current knowledge and certifications are the key.

Jordan enjoys a solid foundation built on the tradition of learning 

• Jordan’s high educational standards attracted students from the Gulf States, Far East, and the US. Jordan's educational sector is largely known through established channels, word of mouth and through alumni in rest of OECD in addition to MENA and GCC countries. 
• Educational tourism destination, Jordan is considered to be an attractive location for foreign students especially from the Gulf States, Asia and US.

Growing and Young Population 

• More than 70% of the population is under the age of 30. 
• Rapidly expanding population adding 130,000 new students into education system and 70,000 new entrants into the labor markets every year for the next two decades. 
• Population in Jordan grew to 5.9 million people in 2006, with a growth rate of 10% in the last year. Much of this increase is attributed to Iraqi refugees and immigrants who need integrate into Jordanian society at all levels.

Knowledge Oriented Sectors 

• Booming services industry to absorb qualified graduates. 
• As the market matures it will enter into more knowledge intensive and focus on international standards and increasing global connectedness, increased role for private sector delivery to augment skills, from teaching to learning, from young students to mature students, from long stints, to many shorter courses over the individuals lifecycle, from national to international markets for higher education.

Availability of Resources 

• Large and skilled Labour pool where 20% of the 200,000 students study in the field of Education Scientific & Teacher Training. 
• The Jordanian higher education system offers options not always available in developing countries. These include a differentiated system of higher education institutions (universities and community colleges) and patterns of ownership (public and private) (World Bank 1996).

Government commitment and government priority 

• Jordan is among the region's highest spenders on education, investing more than 20.4% of our GDP to enable a labor force tailored to meet the demands of the modern market.

Key macro-economic policy supports large investments in education and social services

Regulatory processes include: 

• 2001 New Higher Education Law (No. 14) implemented by The Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (itself newly formed in 2001): 
  • Coordination with other agencies 
  • Agreements with colleges 
  • Monitoring and evaluation 
• Supports the education Public Private Partnership model which has led to the improvement in e-content development skills for 50,000 pupils in 100 "Discovery Schools" in Jordan 
• Public universities operate under the Jordanian Universities Law No. 29 of 1987 and private universities under the Private Universities Act No. 19 of 1989. Each public university has: council of deans headed by the president who runs the university, a faculty council for each college, and departmental councils composed of the academic staff. Community colleges operated under the Ministry of Higher Education, which was first created in 1985 to regulate the operations of all community colleges.

The private education market continues to soar at record rates, led by a youthful demographic shift and increased contribution of private sector investors.

Products and Services: 

• Degree and non-degree granting curricula 
• Other combination of training programs 
• Corporate (but not in-house) and government training

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