Biography:

Professor Hamdan received the B.Sc. in Mathematics (with honours) from Cairo University in 1957, and the Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics from Sydney University in 1963. He was appointed Senator at the Upper House of Parliament in Jordan in December 2007 by a Rroyal Decreee. He served as Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Jordan for three terms, and as Secretary General of The Higher Council for Science and Technology from September 1998 - July 1999. He joined the Arab Open Univeristy as Rector and Founding Member from 1999 ? 2001 and as Senior Advisor from October 2001 - August 2002. He had to leave the University to serve as Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research from September 2002 - November 2003, but immediately after his term ended, he was re-appointed Senior Advisor of the Arab Open University; a post which he still holds at present. Besides the Arab Open Univeristy, Professor Hamdan was President and Founding Member of two public universities in Jordan: the Yarmouk University and the Hashemite University. Earlier in his career, he held several posts at the University of Jordan including Professor of Mathematics, Dean of Faculty of Science, Dean of Scientific Research and Dean of Student Affairs. At the academic level outside Jordan, Professor Hamdan served as Faculty Member (Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor) at the American University of Beirut/Beirut (1965 ? 1976), and as Visiting Professor of Mathematics at the American University of Cairo/Egypt, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University/USA, and Riyadh University/Saudi Arabia. In addition to his teaching, research and administative actitivites at several universities, Professor Hamdan was Chairperson of Jordan's National Commission for UNESCO (1989-1991, 1998); Head of Jordan's Delegation to World Conference on Education for All, Jom-tein (1990); Chairperson of Commission III, 29th Session of UNESCO General Conference (1997) (in which the Commission adopted the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights); Vice Chairperson of UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee (4-year term from 1998 ? 2001); Member of UNESCO?s International Bioethics Committee (4?year term from 2002-2005); Chairman of Jordan?s National Committee on the Ethics of Science and Technology (2003 ? 2006); Member of AGFUND's Delegation to World Education Forum/Education for all-2000 Assessment, Dakar 2000. In terms of academic research, Professor Hamdan is Member of the Editorial Board of several research journals. He supervised several Ph.D. dissertations and M.Sc. theses throughout his career, and was keynote speaker in numerous scientific conferences; and national and international consultations in the areas of Mathematics, Mathematical Statistics, Education and Higher Education. This includes participation in several sessions of UNESCO General Conference as Head or Member of Jordan's Delegation (1986-2000), and participation in several regional and international UNESCO conferences, seminars or workshops on Higher Education and on scientific research (including UNESCO's Paris Conference in 1998 and UNESCO's Budapest Conference in 1999). He published numeours papers in the area of Mathematical Statistics.

Abstract:

Traditionally, the analysis of higher education systems addresses all HE issues, such as admissions, programs of study, students, faculty, staff, legislations, management, and financial recourses, which are all relevant to the three roles of HE institutions, namely, teaching, research, and community service. It was unanimously agreed in the 90's that there are four basic components to be addressed in the content of "Higher Education Reform", namely: Access, Relevance, Quality, Governance & Funding. All HE issues listed above are considered as factors affecting one or more of these basic components. The efforts to address "Access", succeeded in expanding the scope of admission by opening new public and private universities, introducing lower requirements parallel admissions, plus relaxing admission policies. Again, the efforts to achieve "Relevance" succeeded in providing over- relevance by flooding the market with graduates in all possibly employable specializations, including a wide range of new multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary, programs. However, it is unfortunate that HE reform efforts stopped at achieving "Access" and "Relevance" (although some prospective employers still complain about lack of applied components in curriculum) and by-passed completely the other two basic components: "Quality" and "Governance & Funding". To achieve Quality, increasing the number of admitted students and introducing new relevant programs of study must go hand-in-hand with: a. Preserving the quality of admitted students. b. Appointment of additional highly qualified faculty members. c. Implementation of an intensive Ph.D. scholarship program at prominent international universities for young graduates who distinguished themselves at the Bachelor's and Master's degree levels, with contractual agreement for appointment upon their return. d. Implementation of an intensive training program for some current faculty members whose assessed performance falls below acceptable standards. e. Provision of additional educational facilities and equipments. f. Securing additional physical space requirements to accommodate a larger number of students. To achieve all of the above quality requirements, capable highly qualified university leadership with strict adherence to the principles of "Justice" and "Equal Opportunity" and adequate level of funding are both very essential. However, this did not materialize. The governmental financial support for public universities remained modest in spite of the continued growth of public HE sector. This support, in addition to tuition fees, barely meet annual salaries. Most of the private universities are owned by investors seeking growing profits which is often achieved at the expense of quality. In light of this story, the critical issue now rests in the urgent need to take positive steps to realize reforming HE through synergy among all four basics HE components, so that the story will have a happy ending.