I am very pleased to welcome you to the Jordan National Tempus Office (NTO) website. The website includes variety of important information, such as the roles and responsibilities of the NTO, which helps you understand the role of the NTO and how it may better serve you, a summary of the projects funded by the European Commission, some statistics about the involvement of European and Mediterranean countries and the Jordanian institutions participating in such projects, the national priorities as set by the government, highlights about the main activities of the NTO for the past few years, information about the higher education sector in Jordan, links to the Tempus and Erasmus-Mundus programmes, and many more.

Although Jordan started participating in the Tempus program as of December 2002, 24 Joint European Projects (JEP) and five Structural and Complementary Measures (SCM) projects have been selected for funding so far, and 26 Individual Mobility Grants (IMG) have been awarded to individuals to visit higher education institutions. More impressive, in this relatively short period of time, collaboration with 14 European countries and seven Mediterranean countries is already taking place. This involves the mobility of faculty members and students from Jordan to Europe and vice versa, thus achieving the objectives of the Tempus program in providing the proper environment for cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the people of Jordan and Europe.

The Tempus program has significantly contributed to the process of higher education reform and development in Jordan, in spite of the fact that the funds available are quite limited.

We take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to the European Commission for including Jordan in the Tempus program and providing the necessary funds, as well as the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research for hosting the NTO. We look forward to strengthening further the collaboration between Jordanian higher education institutions and their European counterparts, through the Tempus and other programs in higher education and scientific research.

Professor Ahmad Abu-El-Haija

Director, National Tempus Office (NTO), Jordan