Dentistry attracts students whose Tawjihi average fell just short of medicine, which is exactly why it produces so many recognition problems. The Ministry places dentistry in the same band as medicine: a secondary school average of 90%, met before enrolling abroad. A student who did not qualify for medicine in Jordan on average alone will not qualify for dentistry abroad either, as far as equivalency is concerned.
The university’s own admission decision is a separate matter. Many dental schools abroad will accept a student at 80% or lower. That acceptance says nothing about whether Jordan will equivalence the degree five years later, and the university has no obligation to raise the subject.
What the Ministry checks
- The average: 90% or above at the point of enrolment.
- The university: on the Ministry’s recognised list on the day you enrol, along with any other institution where 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, split into stays of no less than two consecutive months or one full semester.
The residency rule deserves particular attention in dentistry, because clinical training hours are the part of the programme students most often ask to compress or complete elsewhere. Get the required months in writing from the university before you enrol, not after.
The licence to practise
Equivalency establishes the degree academically. Treating patients in Jordan is a separate permission: a licence to practise dentistry, issued through the Ministry of Health, alongside membership of the Jordanian Dental Association. The government services portal lists the licensing service and its current requirements under منح شهادة مزاولة مهنة طب الأسنان.
Confirm the current conditions with the Association and the Ministry of Health directly while you are still choosing a university. Requirements for graduates of foreign dental schools are set by those bodies and are revised from time to time; anything written on an agency’s website, including this page, is a guide to what to ask rather than the authority itself.
Before you pay a dental school deposit
- Confirm the secondary average is at or above 90%. If it is not, dentistry abroad is not a safe plan for practising in Jordan.
- Find the dental school on the Ministry’s recognised list, and keep a dated screenshot.
- Get the required on-campus months per year in writing from the university.
- Read the current licensing requirements from the Ministry of Health and the Jordanian Dental Association.
If the average rules dentistry out, the honest alternatives worth discussing are the medical sciences and allied health fields, where the Ministry’s minimum is 70%, rather than a dental degree that cannot be equivalenced.
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.