Piotr Serafin
The Role Of Higher Education Development In Jordanian Social Policy [View PDF]
ABSTRACT
The following article presents the role of higher education and its development in the social policy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan since the beginning of its independence. Development of Jordanian higher education sector became an example of a useful instrument in achieving important goals from the state security point of view. Due to historical reasons, Jordanian government decided to recruit state elites from the Tranjordanian part of society, which however was traditionally poorer educated than Palestinians. In order to change this situation, various methods, such as affirmative actions including quota systems aimed at promotion of underprivileged candidates, started to be used. These tools did obviously not serve equally to both Palestinians, to whom only private sector remains open, and Transjordanians. However, preferential treatment reserved for the latter ones may bring a serious threat to internal stability of the Kingdom populated by Palestinian majority.
Keywords: higher education, Jordan, Transjordanian, Palestinian, university