Mr. Abdullah Abu Khadijah
Chairman of the Administrative Board
Arab International Company for Education and Investment
It is my great pleasure to present to you the Applied Science University (ASU). This university, which was established in Amman as a private university, was an investment project for the Arab International Company for Education & Investment. The idea behind the foundation of this university is very interesting.
When the first annual conference for Jordanian expatriates was held in the eighties in Amman, most of the expatriates who attended the conference were the parents of high secondary school students. Due to the limited number of seats allocated for their children in Arab and Jordanian universities, they had no choice but to send their children to universities abroad. In addition to the high expenses they had to bear, and since most of the children were not well equipped to withstand the shock or the cultural gap between their society and the new society they had to live in, they felt they should find a solution to this crisis. In the fourth annual conference for Jordanian expatriates, held in 1988, the birth to the idea of private universities in Jordan was declared. It was one of the recommendations of this conference to call for the establishment of the Applied Science University, which was then approved of by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Higher Education. After a feasibility study was conducted to ascertain the reasonableness of this idea, the Ministry of Higher Education authorized and licensed the establishment of the Applied Science University on July 10th, 1989. In order to establish this university, the Arab International Company for Education and Investment successfully chose a convenient location on the outskirts of Amman for the university. The idea was to start a university with three faculties: Arts, Science, and Management & Economics. Accordingly, the process of construction, preparation of necessary equipment, laboratories, and a good library, and the appointment of efficient administrative, technical, and academic staff, started. I can say with high confidence that the university has proven itself as the largest private university in Jordan, and it now stands at the forefront of universities in Jordan. This in itself tells us a lot. The prosperous development of this university, which was well planned for, has resulted in having at present eight faculties, (28) specialities, (285) faculty members, (604) administrative employees, (160) fully equipped laboratories and workshops, a big modern library, a large gym, stadiums, a large number of buses, a clinic, and many facilities and entertainment centres. In short, the Arab International Company for Education and Investment has saved no effort to provide ASU with all means possible to maintain its leading position. You know the quality of sweets only by tasting them. So, why not join the university.