UJ board reduces 'tuition fee hike by 50%' on 18th day of protest

AMMAN — The University of Jordan (UJ) board of trustees on Wednesday decided to lower the increase on tuition fees for the post-graduate and parallel programmes by 50 per cent, as a student protest entered its 18th day.

The decision will cost the university an additional JD10 million, a UJ statement said, adding that it was in response to an initiative by the Lower House Education Committee.

Officials at UJ were not immediately available to comment on the decision or provide further details despite several attempts by The Jordan Times, but it is expected to lead to a 50 to 90 per cent raise in tuition fees instead of the current 100 to 180 per cent.

Earlier on Wednesday, protester Ahmad Mustafa said a 50 per cent discount is not enough. 

"The suggestions by the MPs were not beneficial to the cause we are fighting for; they wanted to cancel 50 per cent of the raise on tuition fees and for us to end the protest… but there was no written agreement,” he said.

“Students started the protest to demand a total reversal and cancellation of the decision,” Mustafa noted.

On Tuesday, the Higher Education Council decided not to renew Ekhleif Tarawneh's UJ presidency for a second term, but the students said their protest has nothing to do with the president himself.

“We didn’t demand the dismissal of the president; the protest is not against a person, it is against the injustice of our education system at universities,” Amani Ali, a third-year student, said.

She told The Jordan Times that the decision not to renew the term for Tarawneh “has nothing to do” with the demands of students, and the protesters will stay on campus “as long as the decision is not reversed”.

Alaa Hajjeh, another protester, agreed that “it was never a personal issue” with Tarawneh, and reiterated that "a discount on the tuition fee raise" is not the answer. 

"The suggestion does not meet our demands,” he added.