Education
From The Report: Jordan 2014
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Jordan has both a private and a public school system. Of the 6355 schools operating in the 2012/13 academic year, 3582 were state schools and 2600 were private. In the tertiary education sector there are currently 10 public and 19 private universities. Foreign enrolment remains high at the kingdom’s universities, with foreign students accounting for around 11% of undergraduates in the 2012/13 academic year. The largest source of foreign students is Palestine, followed by Iraq, Syria, and then Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of Education has made entrepreneurship education a key focus and this has resulted in dedicated courses and business incubators being established at universities. Meanwhile, an emphasis on research and development aims to boost innovation in the energy and water sectors, and also in pharmaceuticals, analysis of biological materials and organic fine chemistry.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Enrolment is high across the board, from the primary through the tertiary levels
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Literacy rates and school attendance are high in Jordan thanks to a cultural emphasis on education. Nearly half of those old enough to go to university are enrolled in them. Spending on research as a proportion of GDP is also very high by regional standards. Jordan’s universities have a good reputation in the region and a substantial proportion of their students come from other parts of Middle East, especially at private universities. Challenges in the sector include overcrowding in state universities…

Analysis

Scientific method: Emphasis on research and development aims to boost innovation in energy and medicine
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According to the latest available data from the World Bank, Jordan spent 0.43% of GDP on scientific research in 2008. This was up from 0.34% in 2002, the second latest year for which data is available. Although substantially below levels in the West, this is nonetheless well above countries in the region for which data is available, with Iraq spending 0.06% in 2011, for example, and Saudi Arabia 0.08% in 2009 (latest available data). Furthermore, the kingdom intends to more than double levels in…