Student movement criticises ‘illogical’ diploma fee hikes at Balqa university

AMMAN — The National Campaign for Defending Students’ Rights “Thabahtoona” on Monday said the rise in tuition fees for diploma programmes (community college certificates) offered by Balqa Applied University (BAU) is “illogical and affects majority of Jordanians”. 

Mohammad Awartani, third-year diploma student at BAU, said the university and colleges that offer the diploma certificate are providing only “office classes” at the professor’s office.

The rise in fees ranges between 50 per cent and 400 per cent, according to students wishing to enroll in diploma programmes.

The university offers courses at several community colleges across the Kingdom.

“Students would already be enrolled in colleges that are supposed to offer the programme, yet, the subjects are not actually available at the college, the labs are not equipped, and the student passes the course without attending,” Awartani claimed at a press conference.

The rise in tuition fees for diploma programmes was announced gradually. Last year, the fees were raised by 200 per cent... Students wishing to enrol this semester found out that the university had raised the fees," he explained.

For instance, the fee for one credit hour in the regular engineering and technology programme is JD35, while for the parallel programme it is JD45, an increase of JD7 and JD15, respectively.

The credit hour for the regular accounting programme at BAU’s colleges used to cost around JD5, but now it costs JD20. For the parallel programme, the fees were hiked from JD15 to JD30, according to documents from students enrolled in the 2017 programmes.

Students also face problems of sudden cancellation of courses due to shortage in equipment, labs and qualified professors, Awartani said, adding that some students have to take crash courses to keep up with their education.

“Sometimes, professors give us a one-hour class for three subjects,” he claimed.

Thabahtoona coordinator Fakher Daas said the university’s board of trustees had issued a statement last month to raise tuition, service and application fees 

“Most of the students who choose the diploma programme are from underprivileged backgrounds with no proper education and are living in rural areas. They don’t have other options…. Is it logical to raise the fees by 400 per cent for some programmes?” the campaign’s coordinator asked.

He charged that the decision to increase tuition fees by high margins "targets underprivileged people". 

“Jordan’s higher education is renowned for its quality, however, with all these decisions to increase fees, many students are drifting away, and we are reaching a point of no return,” Daas warned.

The campaign will urge the prime minister to reverse the decision, he said, having sent a letter to the higher education minister earlier this year.   At the same time the movement is planning to launch a boycott campaign for all diploma students to voice their rejection.

Next week, members of the campaign will organise a series of protests, Daas said.

BAU officials were not available for comment despite several attempts by The Jordan Times, but the university’s president, Abdullah Al Zou’bi, issued a statement on Sunday saying that the university lowered the fees of some programmes from JD45 and JD55 to JD35 per credit hour.