UJ panel to review costs of all majors as students continue protest

AMMAN — As a response to an ongoing sit-in on campus to protest tuition fee hikes, the University of Jordan's (UJ) president and board of trustees met with some protesters on Monday to find a solution. 

At the meeting, students and university officials agreed to form a committee to review suggested and suitable solutions to end the protest and meet demonstrators' demands within the capabilities of the university.

The students, whose protest entered its 10th day on Tuesday, want the university to reverse a decision taken some three years ago to raise tuition fees in the parallel, post-graduate and international programmes.

One credit hour for the parallel programme costs JD180, students said, noting that before the decision it cost around JD80. 

Activist Ahmad Mustafa told The Jordan Times that the UJ administration offered to transfer parallel programme students with a general point average of 3.5 out of 4 and above to the less costly regular programme, provided that the protest ends. 

Mustafa said the protesters did not accept these terms and continued the sit-in on Monday evening, with several media representatives and students from other universities joining them.

“Students were told that the protest will be dispersed by force, and some campus security personnel told students the university will not be responsible if any protesters were attacked or injured after 10pm,” he claimed.

Alaa Hajjeh, another protester, said the suggestions by the board of trustees do not meet the demands of students. 

“The protest brought students from different parties together — leftists, Islamists, and others… We have been protesting the decision since June 2014, we never stopped,” Hajjeh told The Jordan Times.  

He stressed that students will not end the protest until the UJ administration reverses the decision to raise tuition fees.

UJ President Ekhleif Tarawneh said the committee formed on Monday includes the president, students from several parties, members from the board of trustees and the finance department and academics.

The committee, Tarawneh said, will review the needs and costs of all majors, starting from the post-graduate programme, to find a solution to the issue.

“Students who attended the meeting agreed to our terms, but shortly after that, other protesters refused the conditions and suggestions and continued to protest,” he told The Jordan Times.

Tarawneh added that the timing of the protest is inappropriate and that many political parties are promoting their ideologies through the demonstration.

“Reviewing the decision is something I have been demanding since 2012. I was happier than the students when the committee was formed,” he said. 

Tarawneh noted that no measures will be taken against the protesters as long as they are protesting “peacefully”.