Almost every family we sit with asks the same question in the first five minutes: with this average, where can our son or daughter actually go? The honest answer has two parts, and most of the confusion in this market comes from treating them as one.
Two gates, not one
The first gate is the university. A university abroad decides whether to admit you, and it uses its own minimums. Many of them are lower than families expect.
The second gate is Jordan. If the degree is going to count when you come home, whether that means working in the public sector, registering with a professional association or studying further, the Ministry of Higher Education has to be able to equivalence it. The Ministry sets its own minimum Tawjihi average for each field, and you must have met it before you enrol abroad.
An offer letter says nothing about the second gate. A medical school abroad can admit a student at 80%, and at that average the degree cannot be equivalenced in Jordan.
The Ministry’s minimums, field by field
These are the minimum secondary school averages the Ministry of Higher Education publishes for Jordanian students who want to study abroad. Where a certificate gives a total out of 1,400 instead of a percentage, the third column applies.
| Field of study | Minimum Tawjihi average | Out of 1,400 |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and dentistry | 90% | 1260 |
| Engineering and architecture, pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy, veterinary medicine | 80% | 1120 |
| Sharia; information technology and artificial intelligence majors, except computer engineering | 75% | 1050 |
| Nursing, allied medical sciences, rehabilitation sciences, nutrition, food science, cosmetic science, clinical psychology | 70% | 980 |
| Law | 65% | 910 |
| All other fields | 60% | 840 |
Source: Ministry of Higher Education, Directorate of Recognition and Equivalency, checked on 19 October 2026. These thresholds are revised from time to time, and the figure for medicine and dentistry has changed more than once in recent years, so check again in the year you enrol.
Find your band
Each of these guides sets out which fields the Ministry’s rules leave open at that level, how universities in the main destinations read a Tawjihi certificate, and the mistakes we see most often.
- Tawjihi 65 to 75: law and most fields are open, nursing and the medical sciences from 70, and the diploma-then-bridging route into engineering and pharmacy.
- Tawjihi 75 to 85: IT and AI from 75, engineering, architecture and pharmacy from 80, and why 85% is still not enough for medicine.
- Tawjihi above 85: the competitive UK foundation programmes, and the 90% line for medicine and dentistry.
The rules that apply at every level
- The average that counts is the one you held before you enrolled abroad. Improving it after you have started does not rescue a degree already under way.
- The university must be recognised by the Ministry. The list is published on the Directorate of Recognition website.
- For a bachelor’s degree you must be resident in the country of study for at least eight months of each year of the course.
- In countries that do not speak English, the Ministry treats the local language as the language of study. A programme taught in another language and open only to international students is not accepted. A joint programme for local and international students is, provided you prove you speak the local language by the time you graduate.
A note on the new Tawjihi fields
Students who sat the Tawjihi in 2026 were the first under the new field system, which replaced the old streams. Universities abroad are still catching up. Some ask for a subject that a field no longer requires, and maths for medicine is the case that comes up most.
Jordan’s Ministry of Education has said there are workable answers: an attested school certificate showing the maths mark, a document confirming that the field qualifies the student for that major in Jordan, or a remedial maths course at the university. Which one works depends on the country and the university, so ask before you apply, not at registration.
Not sure where you stand?
If your certificate is not Jordanian, or you are still waiting for results, send it to us. We will tell you what the Ministry’s table means for you before you apply anywhere, and if a plan will not lead where you want it to, we will say so. Before you travel, read our guide to attesting your certificates.