Amman, Nov. 4 (Petra) --Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission (AQAC), in cooperation with the British Council and the UK's University of Strathclyde, launched a curriculum design toolkit on Wednesday to help higher education institutions align academic programs with Jordan's National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and labor market requirements.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, AQAC President Dhafer Sarayreh said more than 80% of university qualifications had been placed within the NQF by the end of 2025, as the remaining programs will be completed in 2026.

On the framework's development, Sarayreh noted that work began in 2019 following Cabinet approval and then resumed in 2021. Universities and university colleges began applying for inclusion in 2022, while the placement of qualifications within the framework progressed in 2023.

In 2024, the commission continued placing qualifications within the framework and updating standards to cover general, higher, vocational, and technical education. The inclusion of general education and vocational and technical training institutions began in 2025, with work continuing to place their qualifications within the framework.

Sarayreh said the initiative aims to strengthen education quality and ensure academic programs equip graduates with the knowledge, skills, and competencies required by employers.

In turn, British Council Jordan Director Ruth Cocks said the partnership with AQAC, established in 2019, has supported the exchange of Jordanian and British expertise and capacity building in implementing the qualifications framework.

She described the toolkit as a "practical" link between education policy and classroom implementation, providing academic leaders and faculty members with guidance on designing integrated, learning-outcome-based curricula that respond to the needs of students, employers, and society.

University of Strathclyde curriculum development experts Dr. Sean Morrissey and Professor Fiona Smart said the toolkit was developed through three years of cooperation and draws on the university's BOLD curriculum design framework.

They explained that the initiative seeks to move the NQF beyond its role in quality assurance and qualification classification toward supporting broader improvements in teaching, learning, and academic program design.

The project's first phase involved approximately 25 Jordanian universities and 100 academics and higher education professionals. It focused on learning outcomes, assessment methods, teaching strategies, and practical curriculum design tools.

A subsequent phase brought together academic teams from five Jordanian universities to develop more integrated approaches to academic program design.

The experts said the approach seeks to improve alignment between academic programs and individual courses, connect learning outcomes with assessment and feedback, and reduce repetitive assessments and unnecessary student workloads.

The toolkit provides practical guidance on backward curriculum design, aligning learning outcomes with assessment methods, assessment for learning, feedback practices, and integrating technology and artificial intelligence into education.

It is intended for both developing new academic programs and continuously improving existing ones through periodic reviews, evaluation of student learning outcomes, and identification of areas requiring improvement.

//Petra// AO