Khaberni - Jordan, a state unlike any other, combines immense capabilities and deep challenges.
Its significant strength lies in royal wisdom, geographical location, and youthful demography, yet it suffers from profound challenges that span education, service, investment, and tourism crises, raising the critical question, why do others succeed while we lag behind?
Education is the foundation of progress and the cornerstone of any renaissance, but the educational system suffers from structural gaps. Curricula are not linked to the job market, investment in scientific research is limited, and modern skills do not receive priority and do not align with the needs of the modern job market. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate among graduates exceeds 22%, and investment in scientific research is just 0.7% of GDP, compared to other countries where it reaches 3%.
What is happening in the higher education sector goes beyond scientific research and gaps in curricula and skills; it turns into a crisis in the university environment itself. Repeating incidents of university violence for various reasons, some attributed to certain academic leaders who consider it normal. A university president once remarked that a student’s murder on campus was a routine matter, claiming such incidents occur in American universities, though they are isolated cases there, while in our universities, it's a continuous process, with the latest being the footage of a student brawl at the University of Jordan on 10/16/2025. What occurs in our universities are repeated scenes of student violence, an anomaly that has not occurred in countries with internal conflicts, where universities remained sanctuaries. The recurrence of these events in some of our universities is merely a reflection of declining university values and weak systems of discipline and responsibility among academic leadership.
Furthermore, the decline in academic integrity and scientific plagiarism practiced by some academics, some of whom have reached high leadership positions, has led to the degrading ranking of Jordanian universities in global classifications and a noticeable decline in education quality and efficiency of graduates in some specialties.
Added to this, the weakness of some academic leaders who have not kept up with digital transformation and have not shown efficiency in modern university administration, unable to make decisions, and spend their time using the management by pacification and crisis postponement methods.
And the painful question remains, who leads the universities today?
From official statements, it is clear that academic decision-making often happens outside the university walls, not within, leading to a loss of institutional autonomy and self-reform abilities.
Here arises the question, where are we heading in our academic institutions?
Everything happening in the education sector seems to the citizens as if education is not a priority for the government and needs a real stand. The time has come for everyone to realize that continuing to disconnect education from the economy generates wasted potential and dead ends, prompting the youth to seek a window of hope outside the homeland for real opportunities, while countries in the region and beyond invest in people as a strategic asset, and in future skills and digital innovation. We still talk about plans that, if implemented, might be merely formalistic, squandering the youths’ energies between university violence, unemployment, and intellectual estrangement.
But what increases the danger of the scene are the conflicting official statements, sometimes promising a brighter future, and other times about the magnitude of investments and major projects, including oil and gas explorations, and mining opportunities in uranium, copper, and gold, and a million job opportunities, but some of these, due to lack of credibility, only pour oil on the fire of frustration. The latest statement by the head of the Civil Service Bureau claiming that a Jordanian born today would need 73 years to secure a job, is not merely a description of a difficult reality but a profound message of discouragement for an entire generation.
Such statements, in a country already suffering from historically high unemployment, deepen the trust gap between the citizens and the state, making the youth feel that their future is sealed before it begins.
Today, it is evident that we are facing a problem of awareness, perception, and management before it is a crisis in statistics.
As for the services sector, it suffers markedly in efficiency and geographical distribution. Major cities are seeing relative improvement, while rural and remote areas lag, showing clear performance gaps and increasing citizens' feelings of neglect, although the raised slogan proclaims that services should be a right for all, not a privilege for some. World Bank indicators show that Jordan's ranking in public service quality is below average compared to neighbouring countries.
Jordan, which possesses a strategic location at the crossroads of trade and energy, and a relatively educated workforce, and stable political environment, is unable to fully capitalize on these advantages.
Major economic projects often falter, and domestic and foreign investment does not meet expectations, due to complex bureaucracy, weak promotional laws, and high taxes on some sectors.
In contrast, countries in the region have turned similar challenges into opportunities through facilitating investment, offering incentives, and developing infrastructure.
As for the tourism and investment sector, Jordan possesses unique features from the Red Sea to Petra and Wadi Rum, and unique religious tourism potentials worldwide, but fails to attract investments to enhance the infrastructure of this vital sector, which has not reached global standards, due to poor comprehensive strategic planning and lack of holistic vision, squandering huge economic opportunities compared to the potential. In 2024, Jordan received about 3 million international tourists, compared to some countries that welcomed more than 15 million. Herein lies the problem.
In light of all that has been presented, the vision of the Determination Party emerges, as one of the political projects aiming to escape this national deadlock.
The party calls for comprehensive reform starting with education, linking universities to the job market and turning them into platforms of innovation rather than lecture halls in practice, not just in words.
It also calls for rebuilding trust between the citizen and the state through empowering the youth in decision-making positions, reforming public administration on the basis of merit and efficiency, and redefining the concept of public service as a right of the citizen, not a favor from the state.
The absence of trust in institutions, weakness in supporting political movements, and lack of effective participation in decision-making make the citizen sometimes watch the scene from the outside. This national indifference has direct outcomes, such as slow reforms, weak party pressure on the government, and the continuing economic and social crisis without radical solutions.
Youth constitute more than 60% of Jordan's population under 30, but unemployment and limited chances make this human force wasted potential. If directed with proper skills and good education, they can become a real driving force for the economy and innovation.
The party prioritizes reshaping the middle class (the safety valve for communal stability), activating the productive economy, and strengthening the autonomy of universities
