A ban on non-Jordanian professors from working in public and private universities in Jordan will harm the higher education system of the kingdom, the semi-official Jordan Times newspaper reported November 1.

"The decision would isolate Jordan's universities from the rest of the world," the paper quoted President of the prestigious Jordan University Walid Maani as saying.

The government decided earlier this month that Jordanian universities are no longer allowed to hire non-Jordanian professors unless the position available had been advertised in local papers.

The universities must also explain why they choose a foreign professor instead of a Jordanian for the post.

The move is apparently aimed at bringing down the unemployment rate among postgraduates. Unemployed Ph.D. holders alone have amounted to 123 in the kingdom so far.

The Ministry of Higher Education said 645 non-Jordanian professors are working in private and public schools of the kingdom, most of them are Arab nationals from Egypt, Iraq, Sudan or India.

During the past 10 years, hundreds of prominent Iraqi professors came to Jordan for jobs after Iraq's economic situation began to deteriorate due to the UN sanctions on Iraq in 1991 following its invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The Iraqi professors, most of them from prominent Iraqi universities, have helped revolutionize the education system of the desert kingdom. However, the ban "turned things upside down", said Jordanian education experts.

Most affected by the government decision are universities seeking to recruit non-Jordanian professors specialized in disciplines non-existent in the kingdom, the experts said. (Xinhua)