Agency calls for freezing stagnant majors at public universities

AMMAN – Civil Service Bureau (CSB) President Khalaf Hmeisat on Wednesday urged universities and public agencies in charge of higher education to temporarily halt accepting students in disciplines classified as stagnant or oversupplied. 

Speaking at a press conference to launch a study on demand and supply for university degrees, he said that universities should stop admitting students for at least five years in certain majors such as elementary education, philosophy, political science, physiology, English literature, Arabic and Sharia and Islamic studies, among others, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra. 

Hmeisat said policymakers at the Ministry of Higher Education and the Higher Education Accreditation Commission (HEAC) should take a decision in this regard to address the issue of majors that are not needed by the public or private sector. 

He noted that the current number of university graduate applicants for public sector jobs through the CSB is over 320,000, with females constituting around 77 per cent, Petra said. 

The CSB chief has told The Jordan Times previously that only 5 per cent of the total number of applicants are hired by the government every year. 

He said that the “demand and supply” study aimed at guiding applicants for universities to avoid stagnant and saturated disciplines and to consider vocational and applied specialisations. 

HEAC President Bashir Zu’bi has said that the number of students at public universities exceeded their capacities by no less than 50,000, adding the commission has recommended to the Higher Education Council to accept 22,000 students this year in a bid address the excess in the number of students beyond the capacities of higher education facilities, according to Petra. 

Higher Education Ministry Secretary General Hani Dmour urged students and parents to have a look on stagnant and saturated disciplines that are not needed in the public sector before applying for a seat at universities. 

Applications filed by school leavers to the country’s public universities are processed through a unified admission committee, except for the German Jordan University and some majors in other nine universities, such as arts.