Research Project “Emancipatory Education within Jordan Universities”

The Amman Center for Human Rights Studies published a book entitled “Emancipatory Education in Jordanian Universities (Survey Study)” with the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation / Regional Office in Palestine.

The book includes an analytical study of the results of a questionnaire on emancipatory education in Jordanian universities, in which 400 professors and students from various Jordanian universities participated. A research team including Dr. Nizam Assaf, researcher Riad Sabah, and researcher Samar Maknay prepared the study. The book included in-depth interviews with 25 academic and social personalities. The book also included annexes, including the Amman Declaration on Academic Freedoms, the Independence of Institutions of Higher Education and Scientific Research, as well as the names of the participants in the round table and the two discussion panels of 45 academic personalities. The study concluded a number of conclusions and recommendations, perhaps the most prominent of which are:

1.   The need to promote the teaching of students and professors on the concepts of Emancipatory education and academic freedom in university curricula and educational programs, and to consider university teaching as a great tool of knowledge to achieve liberation from all forms of tyranny and obstructionism.
2.   The victory of the idea of liberal awareness as an educational and cognitive goal achieved rationally and metaphorically, and linking emancipatory education and academic freedom in overall educational policy.
3.   Spreading freedom in society (because academic freedom in any society is a reflection of the state of freedom in it), clarifying the meaning of academic freedom, placing it within the goals of universities, and enacting the legislation that protects it.
4.   Include in the university plans and curricula: extra-curricular and interactive activities, while providing all interactive means of theater and video, field visits and practical applications, enhance the skill of research and interpretation, and review the instructions of discipline.
5.    Reviewing the foundations of university admission for students, selection of teachers and university fees, respect for the right to organize trade unions for professors and the empowerment of student unions to express their concerns freely.
6.  To develop student admission programs in universities so that they relate to the student’s desire and skills, not just the orientation rate, specifically to give students the right to choose their specializations and programs, as well as seeking to involve them in the management of their universities.
7.   To support faculty members financially and morally, and to provide them with a suitable environment for teaching, research, publishing and community service, and granting them the right to choose heads of departments, deans of their colleges and heads of universities, and seek to eliminate bureaucratic constraints and administrative tyranny; Building capacity and raising the efficiency of university professors in enhancing communication and communication skills and extra-curricular and applied programs.
8.   Revisit religious education in schools and universities, teach religious science, not teach doctrine, and eliminate the idea of Islamization of science and knowledge. Also include school education and university philosophy and logic.
9.   To develop the entire educational process in a democratic context, including the principles of freedom and equal rights, accountability, transparency and freedom of expression of opinion and opinion, freedom of access to information sources, and continuous application of law and respect for the values of tolerance and cooperation.
10. Ensure the independence of Jordanian universities financially and administratively, and promote good governance and the availability of transparent factors and explicit disclosure, whether with admission to the university and the exceptions granted and their compatibility with the Constitution and the laws and principles of justice and equity based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 and the international instruments and conventions by the Kingdom.