Amman: In its session held Thursday, the Senate, chaired by its President Faisal Fayez and attended by the Cabinet, approved the amended Universities Law for 2026, as received from the Lower House of Representatives.
According to Jordan News Agency, during deliberations, the Senate advised the government to adopt "unified" criteria for naming chairpersons and members of Jordanian university boards of trustees. The senators emphasized that this process should be based on competence, experience, and integrity, while initiating annual performance indicators to assess these boards' work, in accordance with the universities' strategic and operational plans.
The Senate's recommendations also called for a "comprehensive" national evaluation after three years of the law's enactment to measure the impact of the amendments on the quality of higher education and harness findings in any subsequent legislative reviews.
As approved by both chambers, the bill restructures the boards of trustees of Jordan's public and private universities, after integrating amendments to the government's draft, which proposed reducing the number of board members from 12 in the existing law to 8, by adopting a 10-member board.
Regarding public universities, the parliamentary amendments to the government's proposed version increased the number of experienced and qualified professors on the trustees board from three to four and added a member representing the industry and commerce sector.
As for private universities, the amendments increased the number of academics to three on the board of trustees from two, broadened the required expertise to include the university's field of specialization, business and technology, and raised representatives from the industry and commerce sector from one to two.