Ammon News - RAMTHA (Petra)--Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Amin Mahmoud said that Jordan's higher education sector is facing challenges and urged Jordanian universities to improve their performance in the scientific field and focus on applied research.

In opening remarks at an international conference entitled "Developing Higher Education in the Arab World", which kicked of at Jordan University for Science and Technology (JUST), the minister stressed the importance of cooperation between the private sector and universities to develop scientific research and higher education in the Arab world, noting that Jordanian universities seek to occupy a superior position in scientific research, as they have the necessary experience.

President of JUST Abdullah Malkawi said Jordan's higher education sector is keen to preserve the quality of higher education, which cannot be achieved except through focusing on initiatives and benefiting from available means to achieve distinction at the Arab and international levels.

The two-day conference, which is organized by QS with 100 experts from 40 countries in attendance, will discuss the ranking of universities, the means of acquiring an advanced ranking for universities and improving the higher education sector in the Arab world to meet labour market needs.

QS is the world’s leading information specialist in the higher education sector. The QS World University Rankings is a ranking system for the world’s top 700 universities by Quacquarelli Symonds using a method that has been published annually since 2004. QS’s mission is to enable motivated people to fulfill their potential by fostering educational achievement, international mobility and career development.