Ammon News - Minister of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Muhammad Abu Qudais, stressed the need to develop university curricula plans to cope with the changing needs of the labor market and keep pace with global developments, Jordan News Agency reported.

Chairing the first meeting of the committee entrusted to study outcomes of curricula plans in Jordanian universities for engineering majors, the minister stressed the need to strengthen Jordan's higher education institutions' cooperation partnerships and contacts with civil society institutions, unions and the private sector.

In a ministry press statement issued Wednesday, Abu Qudais highlighted the "large" gap between supply and demand in engineering disciplines, due to regional conditions and Covid-19 pandemic's negative effects globally.

The minister also underlined the need to get acquainted with alumni credentials, capabilities and skills necessary to meet the labor market's needs at the local, regional or global levels.

Lauding level of Jordanian universities' alumni in the region, he said many made " distinguished" performance despite the "constant" need for development and modernization to keep pace with "rapid" market changes, adding that professional skills and training are necessary prerequisites for employment, as reported by Petra.

Abu Qudais, moreover, stressed the importance of developing specialized plans that focus on the applied skills, in addition to acquiring professional certificates needed by the labor market, a sgeme that should be integrated in the university curricula plans.

Local universities, he said, should prioritize alumni, who compete globally, while marketing engineers' expertise to foreign markets in the "best" way.