Jordan places 76 of 134 in Global Knowledge Index

AMMAN — The 2018 Global Knowledge Index on Thursday ranked Jordan 76th out of 134 countries. Jordan’s overall knowledge value stood at 45, three points behind the world average.

The Kingdom ranked the highest in the “Higher Education” category, in which it came in 44th place, but scored what experts called a “disappointing” 104th place in the “Technical and Vocational Education and Training” index.

Jordan ranked 9th in the amount of research its institutions of higher education carry out, with a value of 92.1 per cent, a number experts said was “impressive” when the results were presented at the launch.

However, taking a step back, the ratio of academic to vocational students stood at 10:1, a “disproportion that the government is aware of”, according Minister of State for Media Affairs and Government Spokesperson Jumana Ghunaimat.

She said that “finding the solution to this is one the 17 priorities on the government’s 2019-2020 agenda”.

Jordan ranked 93rd in the “Pre-University Education” index, however, the country placed first in a sub-category for the number of trained teachers, with the percentage of trained primary and secondary teachers topping off at 100 per cent.

However, a group of 60 young participants invited to view and discuss the results of the index two days before the numbers were launched commented on the matter, saying there is “a difference between written numbers and real-life outcomes”.

Minister of Culture and Youth Mohammed Abu Rumman said: “Educational institutions should seriously consider revising their policies or else we will continue to retrograde and the gap will become even wider.”

Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation CEO Valentina Qussisiya added: “Hopefully this will be a new stage for all of us, institutions and centres.”

During the launch event, experts also pointed to the “alarming numbers” from the “General Enabling Environment” index, where Jordan’s ratio of female to male labour force participation stood in 192nd place.

The women-to-men ratio in Parliament, gender parity and political stability all had low values, and ultimately led to Jordan ranking 92nd in the overall enabling environment index.

Other indexes included “Research, Development and Training”, “Information and Communications Technology” and “Economy”, in which Jordan ranked 87th, 71st and 50th, respectively.

The index was carried out by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, to “better understand the challenges facing education around the world, and to tackle them,” according to a statement sent to The Jordan Times.