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We, Abdullah II Ben AL-Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In accordance with Article (31) of the Constitution and in pursuance of the Decision of the Senate and House of Representatives. Do hereby endorse the following Law and order for
release as well as addition to the laws of the State: -
Law No. (23), for the year 2009 Law of Higher Education and Scientific Research No. (23), for the year 2009
Article 1 - This Law shall be cited as (the Law of Higher Education and Scientific Research for the year 2009) and shall be effective as of the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.
Article 2 - The following terms and expressions, wherever mentioned in this Law shall have the meaning assigned therefore here under-unless the context states otherwise:
The Ministry : Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Minister : The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Higher Education : The education where the student has to spend at least two full
academic years of study after getting the General Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent.
The Council : The Higher Education Council formed by virtue of the provisions of this Law.
Chairman : The Chairman of the Council. Institutions of higher education: The institutions, which holds the responsibility for higher
education whether Universities, Community Colleges or Intermediate Community Colleges, or others.
Field of specialization : A set of educational subjects which need not less than one full academic year of study at any of the institutions of higher education, where completion of such subjects successfully lead to obtain a certificate in that field.
The Fund : The Scientific Research Support Fund established under the provisions of this Act.
Article 3 - The higher education aims to achieve the following:
A. Preparation of qualified human resources who are specialized in various fields of knowledge to meet the needs of the community.
B. Deepening the Islamic faith, its ethics and spiritual values, and enhancing the sense of the national belonging.
C. Patronizing the democratic approach and enhancing it to ensure the academic freedom, the right of expression, and respect for others' opinions, teamwork, accountability and following the scientific critical thinking.
D. Providing an academic, research, psychological and social supportive environment appropriate for innovation, excellence and talents burnishing.
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E. Increasing the interest to the national heritage, national culture, world cultures and students' general culture.
F. Accrediting the Arabic language as the scientific and educational language in all stages of higher education, and encouraging the scientific writing using Arabic, and translation from and into Arabic, considering English as a second and supportive language in this case.
G. Contributing to the development of knowledge in the areas of science, literature, arts and others
H. Developing knowledge of students (whose study was in a one foreign language at least) in their respective fields of education and helping them to acquire the appropriate skills to use information technology in these fields.
I. Encouraging, supporting and upgrading the scientific research especially the applied scientific research aims at community service and development.
J. Establishing a scientific technical and national nucleus capable to develop the scientific research and technology outputs.
K. Creating a coherent institutional link between the public and private sectors on one hand, and the institutions of higher education on the other, to take advantage of the qualified human resources in these institutions in order to develop these two sectors, through consultation and applied scientific research.
L. Enhancing the scientific, cultural, artistic and technical cooperation in the field of higher education and scientific research with other countries, international organizations, Arab Islamic and foreign organizations, coincided with the expansion of such cooperation in the modern and developed directions.
Article 4 - The Ministry shall assume the following duties and powers: -
A. Implementation of the public policy of higher education in the fields of education, culture, science and research among the institutions higher education.
B. Coordination between institutions of higher education and the consultation centers in the Kingdom, both public and private, to take advantage of educational, research and advisory resources available at these institutions and centers optimally.
C. The conclusion of the scientific and cultural agreements on higher education and scientific research with Arab and foreign countries.
D. Represent the country at conferences and seminars related to higher education, both internally and externally.
E. Recognition of the non-Jordanian institutions of higher education and equivalency of certificates issued by these institutions according to the principles and criteria that are determined by virtue of a regulation issued for this purpose.
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F. Formulating the principles of the educational scholarships for the Ministry employees who are sent out to study at institutions of higher education within and outside the Kingdom, this is besides management of scholarships and supervision thereon.
G. Follow-up with the affairs of Jordanian students abroad.
H. Managing the affairs of foreign students in the Kingdom and the Jordanian students studying abroad, and the affairs of the scientific delegations, in coordination with the relevant parties as well.
I. Preparing and providing the Council with administrative and technical qualified staff capable to carry out its functions and following-up affairs thereto.
J. Providing the Council with any studies, information and data available and related to higher education and scientific research.
K. Managing the offices that provide services to students of higher education, according to a regulation issued for this purpose.
Article 5 – a) A council is formed to be called (The Higher Education Council), headed by the Minister and a membership of:
1. Secretary General of the Ministry. 2. Chairman of the Higher Education Accreditation Commission. 3. Three academics who have the experience in senior academic management for
three years, subject to renewal for one time. 4. Four people who have the experience and who are interested in higher education,
from the private sector for a period of three years, subject to renewal for one time. 5. Three presidents of the Jordanian universities on a rotating basis, two of them are
presidents of public universities and the other shall be a president of a private universities for a period of three years
b) 1- Appointment of the members stated in items (3) and (4) of paragraph (a) of this Article, where membership of any of them shall be terminated by virtue of a resolution by the Ministers Council, upon a recommendation of the Minister, provided that the appointment decision is combined with the Royal Decree.
2- In accordance with the provisions of item (1) of this paragraph, any of the members appointed should not be a Minister, a member of the House of Parliament, government official, President of a University, Chairman of the Board of Trustees or a member thereof.
c) The Council selects a Vice-Chairman from among its members,.
Article 6 – a) The Council shall assume the following duties and powers:
1. Establishing the policy of higher education in the Kingdom and refer it to the Council of Ministers to make the necessary decision thereon.
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2. Approving the establishment of institutions of higher education within the Kingdom as well as the fields of specialization and programs at the various levels of study, besides modifying or eliminating any of them in accordance with the requirements and variables.
3. Supervising the private universities for the purposes of realizing their objectives and tasks, besides issuing instructions required by the law.
4. Distributing government subsidies and additional fees on public universities according to the principles accredited by the Council for this purpose.
5. Formulating the general principles pertaining to students' admission into institutions of higher education, and identifying the numbers of students admitted every year in the various fields of specialization, in accordance with the accreditation criteria.
6. Appointing the Boards of Trustees at the private universities and approving the appointment of the presidents of these universities.
7. Discussing the draft regulations proposed by the institutions of higher education and turning them to the Ministers Council to complete the constitutional procedures thereon.
b) Upon a recommendation of the Higher Education Accreditation Commission and in accordance with the provisions of its law, the Council shall also assume the following duties and powers:
1. Cancel the license of one specialization or more. 2. Suspend admissions, permanently or temporary.
Article 7 – a) The Council shall hold its meetings at the invitation of the chairman or his deputy in his absence. The meeting shall be legal if attended by eight members at least, provided that the chairman or the vice-chairman is among the attendees. The decisions of the council shall be made by the majority vote of members who are present.
b) The Minister shall nominate a secretary for the Council from among the staff of the Ministry, in order to organize the agenda of meetings, take minutes of its meetings, keep records and files, and follow up on the implementation of its decisions or to perform any other functions assigned by the Minister.
c) The Council shall set up the necessary instructions for scheduling meetings.
Article 8 – The following units shall be formed within the Council:
A. The Policy Analysis and Planning Unit undertakes the following functions
1. Collecting data on various aspects of higher education sector. 2. Conducting research studies necessary for the development of the higher
education sector. 3. Identifying the financial needs of the higher education sector.
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4. Any other duties as assigned by the Council.
B. The Unified Admission Coordination Unit:
This Unit shall handle the process of coordinating students' admission into the Jordanian public universities according to the principles that are formulated by the Council, this is in addition to any other duties as assigned by the council.
Article 9–
A. A fund called (the Scientific Research Support Fund) is established with a distinguished financial and administrative independency that aimed at encouraging and supporting the scientific research in the kingdom.
B. A General Director of the Fund who holds the rank of professor shall be appointed by the Ministers Council upon a recommendation of the Minister, where his salary and other financial rights shall be determined at the time of appointment, also his services shall be terminated in the same way.
C. The Fund is administered and supervised by a Board of Directors presided by the Minister and a membership of:
1. The Secretary General of the Ministry as Vice-Chairman 2. The Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance 3. The Secretary General of the Higher Council For Science & Technology 4. Three professors working for the universities of Jordan, and representing the fields
of applied sciences, basic sciences and human sciences. 5. Three people who have the experience and represent the different contributing
parties to the Fund's income 6. The Fund's General Director.
D. Appointment of the members stated in items (4) and (5) of paragraph (c) of this Article, shall be made under a resolution of the Council, for a period of two years subject to renewal for one time,
E. Setting out the functions and powers of the Funds' Board of Directors, the type of expenditure and other relevant matters by virtue of a regulation issued for this purpose, provided that money is not spent for any aspects other than the scientific research.
Article 10 –
A. The Funds' financial resources consist of the following:
1. Allocations from the General Budget of the State. 2. Surplus allocations of the scientific research, training and publication, conferences,
and scholarships that are not disbursed by the Jordanian universities during the last three years.
3. Financial revenues derived from patents, intellectual property rights and technology investments supported by the Fund.
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4. All grants, donations or subsidies received, shall be subject to approval by the Ministers Council if such money came from a non-Jordanian source.
B. The Fund's money is regarded as a State property and shall be collected in accordance with the law of dominal money collection in force, and for this purpose, the Funds' General Director shall exercise the powers of both the administrative governor and the Committee of Dominal Money Collection, provided for in the abovementioned Act.
C. The Fund's money and accounts therein shall be subject to the supervision of the Jordan Audit Bureau.
Article 11- This Fund is regarded as the legal and factual successor of the Scientific Research Support Fund, which was established under the provisions of the Law of Higher Education and Scientific Research No. (4), for the year 2005. All movable and immovable assets, rights and liabilities shall be transferred to this Fund,
Article 12 –
A. The Ministry shall collect fees for the institutional accreditation of the private institutions of higher education which are deposited into the Treasury's account. Amounts and conditions of collection of such fees and other related issues shall be determined by virtue of a special regulation issued for this purpose.
B. The Ministry shall collect service fees for certificates equivalency and authentication and for authenticating courses certificates issued by the institutions of higher education. The amount of fees, herein, shall be determined in accordance with instructions issued by the Minister for this purpose.
Article 13- The Council of Ministers shall issue the necessary regulations to put the provisions of this Law into practice.
Article 14- The Law of Higher Education and Scientific Research No. (4), for the year 2005 shall be abrogated provided that the regulations issued pursuant thereto stay effective until amended, repealed or replaced by others in accordance with the provisions of this Act, within a maximum period of six months from the date of entry into force of the provisions of this law.
Article 15 - The Prime Minister and Ministers shall be responsible for the implementation of the provisions of this Law.
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