Ammon News - By Khetam Malkawi

AMMAN - The Higher Education Council (HEC) has decided to allow university graduates with "fair" grades to pursue graduate degrees if they fulfil several criteria recently set by the council, a government official said on Thursday.

In a press conference yesterday, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Walid Maani said that as of the 2010-2011 academic year, all university graduates planning to pursue graduate studies should score 500 in the TOEFL exams for scientific studies and 400 for humane studies.

He added that under the changes, the HEC will only accredit TOEFL tests conducted by AMIDEAST, noting that the ministry has reached an agreement with the institute to conduct tests across the Kingdom.

Regarding graduates with grade point averages ranging from 2.0 to 2.5 on a four-point scale, Maani said students must enrol in three additional university courses and complete them with grades higher than 75 per cent to become eligible to enter master's degree programmes.

However, he stressed that university graduates with “fair” grades should not exceed 20 per cent of the total number of students accepted into each graduate programme.

Maani added that the HEC has also set conditions for universities that are eligible to provide postgraduate studies in the Kingdom.

Under the new regulations, any university previously allowed to provide graduate studies will be allowed to continue its programmes, unless the Higher Education Institutions Accreditation Commission decides to withdraw their licence.

Foreign universities with branches in the Kingdom will not be allowed to offer post-graduate programmes except as joint programmes with one of the country's local universities.

If a university was previously allowed to offer a specific master's degree programme, but no students are enrolled in it, the programme would be cancelled.

Universities will not be allowed to offer graduate programmes without undergraduate programmes in the same field, except for those with no undergraduate equivalent, he added.

(Jordan Times)