America’s higher education system needs a makeover, but let us take a moment to be thankful that our higher education is still one of the systems in the world. Take Jordan, for example, where more than half of all universities flunked a higher education exam.

Saba Abu Farha reports for Al-Fanar Media:

Jordanian Higher Education Flunks a National Test

AMMAN—More than half of Jordanian universities failed a national proficiency exam held by the ministry of higher education last month.

The exam is administered to students but the government then evaluates the universities by how well their students did. This is the first year where all students expecting to graduate from Jordanian universities have been required to take the exam. The exam seeks to measure students’ competence in the disciplines necessary for their academic goals and evaluates what public and private universities have achieved in their work with the students.

The exam provided a strong dose of bad news for Jordanian educators. “The overall results were weak, shocking and less than our ambition,” said Bashir Al-Zoubi, director of the higher education accreditation commission in a press conference.

He hinted that the results show frustrations linked to social problems in the country.“Students’ oral and written skills are very poor, which clarify the reasons behind violence in some universities,” said Al-Zoubi. Jordanian educators have speculated that because students’ communications skills are so low, they are incapable of dialogue and resort to violence.

The disappointing test results provoked a storm of controversy. Some people blamed careless students, while others criticized national educational policies.