This is the band where choices widen fastest, and where the most expensive mistake in the market gets made. Engineering, architecture, pharmacy and IT all open up here. Medicine and dentistry do not, and the gap between 85 and 90 is where families lose the most money.
What the Ministry’s rules leave open
- At 75%: Sharia, and information technology and artificial intelligence majors. The Ministry makes one exception: computer engineering counts as engineering and needs 80%. Where a programme sits close to that line, check how the Ministry classifies it before you apply.
- At 80%: engineering in all its branches, architecture, pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy, and veterinary medicine.
- Everything below those lines: law from 65%, nursing and the medical sciences from 70%, and other fields from 60%.
The full table is in our guide to what your Tawjihi average qualifies you for.
The 85% trap
A medical or dental school abroad may admit a student at 80% or 85%. The Ministry’s minimum for equivalencing medicine and dentistry is 90%, met before enrolment. A student who starts medicine abroad at 86% is paying for six years of a degree that cannot be equivalenced in Jordan, and nothing that happens later changes that.
If medicine is the goal and the average sits in this band, the honest options are a health field the average does open, such as pharmacy at 80% or nursing and the medical sciences at 70%, or improving the average before committing, where that is genuinely possible. Our guides to medical and dental recognition explain the rest of the conditions.
How universities read a Tawjihi in this band
From each university’s own page for applicants from Jordan, checked on 19 October 2026:
| Destination | University | What it publishes for Tawjihi |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | University of Birmingham | Not normally eligible for direct entry; foundation pathways consider 85% and above, with 85% in maths for engineering and physical sciences |
| United Kingdom | University of Portsmouth | Foundation year from 60%; straight to year one at its associated college at 85% |
| Canada | Western University | Admitted students typically hold the equivalent of at least a B (3.0) average; engineering requires chemistry, physics and maths |
| Canada | Laurentian University | 70 out of 100 |
| Turkey | Bahçeşehir University | Minimum score of 60 out of 100 |
The UK picture is the one to understand. Below 85%, the foundation programmes linked to the most selective UK universities are mostly out of reach: Birmingham’s and Manchester’s both start at 85%. Other universities, Portsmouth among them, run foundation years that accept this band and lead to the same bachelor’s degree. Ask what grade the foundation needs for progression into your chosen degree, and whether progression is to one university or several.
In Canada the average matters, but so do the subjects. An engineering application without senior-level physics and chemistry will not get far, however good the overall figure.
Engineering and pharmacy: the conditions after admission
Clearing 80% gets you through the Ministry’s first door. There are more. The university must be on the recognised list, the eight-months-a-year residence rule applies, and in countries that do not speak English the language rule decides whether an English-taught programme counts. Engineers then register with the Jordan Engineers Association. Our engineering and pharmacy recognition guides set out each step.
The mistakes we see most at this level
- Enrolling in medicine or dentistry abroad at 85% to 89% on the strength of an offer letter.
- Assuming computer engineering sits with IT at 75%. It sits with engineering at 80%.
- Applying to UK foundations that start at 85% with an 82% average, and leaving no time for the ones that would have accepted it.
- Ignoring subject requirements. A strong overall average with a weak maths mark can still close engineering.
What to do next
Send us the certificate and the field you want, and we will check it against the Ministry’s table and the universities you are considering. When you are ready to apply, our guide to attesting your certificates covers the paperwork.