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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - A total of 10,966 students have been accepted at public universities for the 2016-2017 spring semester, the Unified Admission Committee (UAC) announced on Sunday.

The list of accepted students was published on the committee’s website on Sunday.

A total of 12,746 students applied, including 1,780 who were initially disqualified for selecting majors that their General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (Tawjihi) scores do not qualify them to study, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Meanwhile, the UAC said it will announce the names and the suggested majors and universities for these students, who must have a minimum 65 per cent Tawjihi score and obtain the minimum score required for the desired majors, on its website on Monday.

Last spring, the UAC accepted all (10,033) applicants to public universities, including 8,615 students who competed based on merit and 1,418 who were initially disqualified for ineligible selections.

The Higher Education Council (HEC) has asked universities to abide by regulations governing admission through the parallel programme within the allowed quota of 30 per cent of admissions through the UAC, Higher Education Minister Adel Tweisi said on Sunday.

Through the parallel programme, students with Tawjihi scores that are too low to qualify them to study specific subjects at public universities can instead enrol in these disciplines by paying higher tuition fees.

In a phone interview, Tweisi told The Jordan Times that universities generally exceed the allocation limit, noting that one of the universities requested permission to accept all students through the parallel programme.

“The council will monitor universities’ commitment to the parallel programme’s regulations,” he noted.

“Part of the government’s financial support to universities is linked to their abidance by parallel programme regulations… universities’ allocations will be affected in case of major violations,” Tweisi said.

Regarding stagnant and over-subscribed degrees, the minister said the UAC criteria this semester reduced the capacities of 88 fields of study by 10 per cent, with similar cuts to be implemented annually over the next year until admission drops by half.

The HEC on Saturday agreed to accept students with Tawjihi scores between 60 and 64.9 per cent via the parallel programme in “peripheral” universities, including Mutah University in Karak, Al Hussein Bin Talal University in Maan and the Tafileh Technical University, Petra reported.