Overview 

My goal in Jordan is to understand the higher education landscape -- and specifically, to understand higher education reform priorities in Jordan, and what factors shape reform priorities.

Jordan did not establish its first private university until 1990, but has since seen rising demand for the private sector. As of 2006, Jordan had 16 private universities that served more than 25% of all university students. It has also widely touted its universities to international students as an income-generating policy for the country (Kanaan, Al-Salamat, and Hanania 2011).

Reiter (2002) argues that the founding of private universities in Jordan emerged as a bottom-up process, as wealthy entrepreneurs, often of Palestinian origin, proposed founding private universities targeted towards the needs of the labor market. He explains that, “the emergence of private universities in Jordan, which has been a matter of public discussion in recent years, is therefore a Palestinian phenomenon, even if no one states this explicitly” (157).

Yet, the development of Jordan’s HE policies has also been extensively influenced by international organizations – the World Bank is currently investing 65 million USD in a project entitled: “Higher Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy” in Jordan (The World Bank 2009). Further investigation is needed into how local political interests intersect with global norms and institutions to affect HE policies and outcomes. By carrying out a comparative case study, I will examine how these countries, with contrasting historical legacies and contemporary influences integrate and adopt the global discourse of PHE differently.

To understand how and why Jordan has designed its higher education reforms, and which factors influence policymaking, my Jordanian case study asks:

• What are higher education reform priorities in Jordan?
• What factors will influence higher education reforms in Jordan? 
• Who are the major stakeholders involved in higher education reform? 

My primary data source will be semi-structured interviews with relevant policymakers and stakeholders. I hope to carry out interviews with roughly 45 policymakers and higher education officials in each Jordan. Interviews will encompass a variety of stakeholders in each nation, including: ministry education officials, officials at IGOs (the World Bank and UNESCO), local civil society organizations, higher education administrators and local academics. My interview questions will ask about attitudes towards privatization, higher education reform priorities, the role of IGOs in influencing reform, and how privatization is framed within larger discussions of higher education reform.

Additionally, I plan to triangulate my findings through content analysis of media sources and comparative analysis of national education data. First, I will collect background information on higher education to understand the specific laws, recent reforms and existing governance structures regulating private universities in Jordan. I will also collect budgetary and demographic data to situate discussions of HE within their national context. Finally, I will collect relevant policy documents and media sources, including newspaper articles, on higher education policy to support my interview findings.