A pharmacy degree from abroad: what Jordan requires before you can dispense

6 September 20262 minute read

Pharmacy is grouped with engineering and architecture in the Ministry’s admission bands: a secondary school average of 80%, met before enrolling abroad. It is a lower bar than medicine and dentistry, and that is precisely why it catches families out — a student in the mid-seventies is often steered toward pharmacy abroad as the safe option, when for equivalency purposes it is not.

What the Ministry checks

  • The average: 80% or above at the point of enrolment.
  • The university: listed on the Ministry’s recognised universities list on the day you enrol — and so is every other institution where any part of the degree was taken.
  • Time on campus: at least eight months of regular in-person study per academic year for students enrolled from 1 October 2023, in stays of at least two consecutive months or one full semester.

If the average is below 80%, nursing and the medical sciences sit at 70% and are worth discussing honestly, rather than enrolling in a pharmacy programme that will not equivalence.

The licence to practise

Academic equivalency does not by itself allow you to work as a pharmacist. Practising in Jordan requires a licence issued through the Ministry of Health — listed on the government services portal as ترخيص مزاولة مهنة الصيدلة — together with membership of the Jordan Pharmacists Association, which publishes its own membership requirements.

Both sets of conditions are set by those bodies, apply specifically to graduates of foreign universities, and change from time to time. Read them at the point you are choosing a university.

Before you pay a pharmacy school deposit

  1. Confirm the secondary average is at or above 80%.
  2. Find the university, and any pathway college attended, on the Ministry’s recognised list.
  3. Get the required on-campus months per year in writing from the university.
  4. Read the Ministry of Health licensing conditions and the Pharmacists Association’s membership requirements for foreign graduates.

The full set of Ministry conditions is set out in will your degree be recognised in Jordan. Conditions and figures here come from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Recognition and Certificates Equivalency Directorate, checked on 6 September 2026. Verify with the Ministry, the Ministry of Health and the Association before making a decision.