Jordan University of Science and Technology

The Jordan University of Science and Technology (Arabic: جامعة العلوم والتكنولوجيا الأردنية Jami'at Al-Ulum wa Al-Tiknolojia Al-Urdunia), often abbreviated JUST, is a public technological university located on the outskirts of Irbid, at Ar Ramtha in northern Jordan. The university comprises twelve faculties that offer a spectrum of undergraduate and higher study programs, in addition to King Abdullah University Hospital which is a tertiary teaching hospital affiliated with JUST and located within its campus.

History

Having its roots at Yarmouk University in Irbid, a royal decree was issued in 1986 to establish JUST, which emerged as an independent university on 1 September 1986. JUST detached five faculties from Yarmouk University to form its academic nucleus. These faculties were the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Dentistry, the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Faculty of Nursing, and the Faculty of Engineering. Subsequently added to these faculties were the Faculty of Science and Arts, the Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, the Faculty of Computer and Information Technology, and the Faculty of Agriculture.

Started with 110 faculty members, JUST in 2018 hosted 985 academic faculty members, of which 249 were full professors. A total of 2,300 students enrolled in 1986, but as of the academic year 2017/2018, 22634 undergraduate and 2213 postgraduate students were enrolled at the university, representing 51 nationalities. The university granted 5177 Bachelor and Master Degrees in the academic year 2017/2018, with a total of over 77,000 graduates since establishment.

University Presidents

• Kamel Ajlouni (1986–1995)
• Saad Hijazi (1995–2003)
• Wajih Owais (2003–2010)
• Abdullah Al-Malkawi (2010–2014)
• Mahmoud Alsheyab (2015–2016)
• Omar Al-Jarrah (2016–2018)
• Saeb Khresat (2018– 2021)
• Khalid El-Salem (2021-now)

Campus

The university campus is located in Ar Ramtha, 70 km north of Amman, the capital, and 20 km east of Irbid. It covers an area of approximately 11,000 dunums (11 km2). The main campus is surrounded by a green cover of 5,000 dunums. In addition to academic buildings and the JUST Library, the campus includes the university farm, 12 auditoriums, a concert hall, fine arts galleries and museums, as well as athletic facilities.

The university campus is divided into two sections. The Medical Faculties Complex is located at the northern part of the university and houses the faculties of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Applied Medical Sciences, Pharmacy and Science and Arts. The Engineering Faculties Complex is located at the southern part of the university and includes the faculties of Agriculture, Computer and Information Technology, Engineering, Architecture and Design and Veterinary Medicine.

There are two libraries in JUST, one in the Engineering Faculties Complex and the other is in the Medical Faculties Complex. The two-floor library at the Medical Faculties Complex contains 115,000 books, and 45,000 volumes of back issues of periodicals, which makes it the main library at the university. At the present time, a third library is being constructed in the area between the Engineering Faculties Complex and the Medical Faculties Complex which is larger in size than both existing libraries. There are three restaurants for students; one in each main campus, and one located near the soccer stadium.

Every department has a computer laboratory for the students to use. There are also two open labs one in each campus and six additional labs, which are available for the graduate and undergraduate computer science students and students who are taking related courses at the PH building located at the Medicine Faculties Building. The campus is covered by a wireless internet connection (WLAN).

King Abdullah University Hospital

Named after the first king of modern Jordan, Abdullah I bin al-Hussein, the King Abdullah University Hospital (KAUH) is the largest hospital in northern Jordan, serving approximately one million inhabitants of the Irbid, Ajloun, Jerash, and Mafraq governorates. It is also the teaching hospital affiliated with Jordan University of Science and Technology, located within the campus adjacent to the university's Medical Faculties Complex. The hospital is staffed with full-time physicians and surgeons who are faculty members of the JUST Faculty of Medicine, in addition to many others from the Ministry of Health, and the Royal Medical Services (RMS). The overall area of various hospital buildings is 95583m², in addition to a double story car park of 9000m² area. The hospital has a bed capacity of 683 which can be increased to 800 beds in an emergency situation.

Academics

Jordan University of Science and Technology is home to twelve faculties. The language of teaching at the university is English, although most of the students speak Arabic.

Medical Faculties Complex

A group of building in the northern part of the university comprising the faculties of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, Applied Medical Sciences, and Science and Arts.

Medicine

The JUST Faculty of Medicine, the second medical school in Jordan, was established in Yarmouk University at the northern city of Irbid in 1984; the faculty then branched out into Jordan University of Science and Technology in 1986. The faculty is closely associated with King Abdullah University Hospital, the teaching hospital where postgraduate students undergo their residencies.

As the faculty's main teaching hospital, KAUH provide students with the opportunity to attend lectures, tutorials, clinics, ward rounds, and surgeries. Medical students graduating from JUST are widely renowned for their achievements in the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), gaining postgraduate positions in well-known global institutions. Furthermore, the Faculty of Medicine has been an active participant in medical research and has hosted numerous international events and conferences, with focus on subjects in relation to myocardial protection and research, pediatrics, anesthesia, and internal medicine. As of September 2011, the faculty will be hosting the Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (FRC Path) Part 1 written exams in all Pathology specialties, which will enable Jordanian and Arab Pathologists to sit the exam outside the UK.

Nature of the Medical Program

The Faculty of Medicine awards the Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) after completion of six years comprising three years of medical sciences and three clinical years. Students are admitted to medicine based solely on their grade point average in their high school national general exam (Tawjihi); there are neither entrance interviews nor psychometric exams. The cutoff average used for admissions into medicine is the highest among all the other disciplines offered by universities. For example, the cutoff average used over the past five years has been: 94.9 (2005), 96.3 (2006), 97 (2007), 96.8 (2008), and 97.7 (2009). Although in the minority, the faculty of medicine accepts students from Israel, Palestine, Syria, Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Malaysia, and other countries. Tuition is significantly higher for the foreign students. Initially, the faculty at JUST accepted 50 students into the program, but that number has grown to more than 200 in recent years.

Library

The library collection comprises 115,000 books, and 45,000 volumes of periodicals back issues. In organizing its collection, the Library adopts the Library of Congress Classification Scheme, and uses the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR2) and the International Standard of Bibliographic Description (ISBD).

The total floor area of the library is estimated as 12.500 square meters, and it can accommodate 2.500 visitors at the same time due to the large area that the library has.

To cope with the new technologies in the field of library and information science, the library started in 1993 to offer retrieved information services through a good number of necessary databases, which are published on CD-ROM or online (WAN) subscriptions.

There are two libraries in JUST, one in the Engineering Faculties Complex and the other is in the Medical Faculties Complex. While both libraries give the students an appropriate and suitable place for reading and studying, the two-floor library at the Medical Faculties Complex is relatively larger, also contains 115,000 books, and 45,000 volumes of back issues of periodicals, which makes it the main library at the university. At the present time, a third library is being built in the area between the two complexes and is larger in size than both existing libraries and is set to become the largest library in the Middle East.

Publications

The university issues a quarterly journal called the Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering (JJCE). The journal is internationally peer-reviewed. Subjects covered include applications of civil rehabilatations, structural control, smart materials, earthquake engineering, geotechnical engineering and soil/rock mechanics, dam engineering, traffic and transportation engineering, water and environmental engineering, construction management and project planning, surveying and mapping, and infrastructures engineering, as well as numerical and analytical methods.

The Deanship of Research is responsible for the funding of research publications by staff members and students, as well as managing the Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering.

Student Newspaper

Just for Just, is an electronic newspaper initiated by the students of the university.

Students

A students' union is elected annually to represent the students. Student clubs that are responsible for organizing various events throughout the academic year. Of the most prominent of these clubs are the Medical Club, Great Arab Revolt Club, Media Club, Science Club, International student Club, Chess Club, and Culture Club.

International community

The number of international students at JUST continues to rise; in the academic year 2005/2006, more than 3,500 students of 48 nationalities came from outside Jordan. As of the academic year 2009/2010, the university had 5,415 international students from 61 different nationalities, rendering it the most cultural-diverse university in Jordan. The International Student Office (ISO) was established in 2005 and is supervised directly by the president. Highly qualified coordinators and staff provide cultural, social and legal consultation, field trips, social events, and meetings with the president. An International Community Fair takes place annually at the university with the aim of encouraging and promoting cross-cultural communication and diversity in the workplace.

On-campus housing

The first building was established in 1993. Due to increasing demand, the number of buildings was gradually raised to eight fully occupied buildings. Each building consists of four floors, the ground floor included. Each floor consists of two major wards, each of which contains eleven rooms, in addition to an adequate number of bathrooms and showers associated with each ward. Each building offers three types of rooms.

Health care and insurance

Health care is available to all students, the cost of which is included in the semester fees. It covers 100% of most services offered by the University Health Centers, including King Abdullah University Hospital (KAUH) and the JUST Health Center (HC). The university provides free life insurance coverage to all students. JUST Health Center (HC) in Irbid was established in 1983 to provide medical care to students, faculty and staff. It is also a teaching center for the residency program of family medicine.

Faculty

Kamel Ajlouni, endocrinologist and university president from 1986 to 1995.

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