The Conference is a collaborative effort among Outreach and International Affairs, the Center of International Research and Education (CIRED) and the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at Virginia Tech, the US Embassy in Jordan and HRH Office of the Crown Prince of the Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The objectives of the conference are to conduct working sessions on proposals for innovative and transformational ideas that can improve the development response in the broader context of sustainable development, to identify potential research collaboration with members of the US-Jordan UCN, and to discuss Virginia Tech’s International Refugee Research Project. The expected output of this conference is not funding per se, but to come up with proposals (both analytical work and potential investment projects) that could eventually find some funding. We already have a number of interesting proposals, such as “Building Entrepreneurship Capacities for Syrian and Jordanian Higher Education Students in Northern Jordan, Science and Technology for Agricultural Research and Transformation (START) and Digital Innovation as a Tool to Empower Vulnerable Youth in Jordan”, among others.

Jordan, a country of 9.7 million people, is a voice for moderation, peace and reform in the Middle East. Over the past decade, Jordan has pursued structural reforms in education, health, as well as privatization and liberalization. More recently, Jordan has also made important reforms to put its economy on the path to long-term prosperity. However, adverse regional developments, in particular the Syria and Iraq crisis, remain the largest recent shock affecting Jordan. This is reflected in an unprecedented refugee influx , in disrupted trade routes, and in lower investments and tourism inflows.

Jordan, and its institutions of higher learning, have the ability to serve as a model for the rest of the region. We believe that since the population of Jordan is so young (70% under the age of 30), this is precisely the time for a renew focus on education, not just as a national priority for economic growth and social development but as a national strategy for stability, peace, and shared prosperity. We hope to leverage disruptive technologies and adopt modern approaches so it can offer young people the skills they need to define their trajectories in life and adapt to local, national, and global changes. Finally, we are pursuing collaboration based on a shared national vision that would connect with the overall development goals of the country. To achieve that collaboration, we believe that there needs to be a concerted push for learning, a wide-reaching pull for skills, and a new pact for education . We are looking forward to a very successful conference and to the implementation of proposed recommendations.