The Higher Education for Innovation and Growth activity aims to create an ecosystem where Jordanian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) provide quality, market-relevant, student-centered education, and foster innovation for economic growth through partnerships with industry that bridge the gap between supply and demand, with a unique focus on increasing youth employability.

By the end of the Higher Education for Innovation and Growth activity, select Jordanian HEIs will be activated as central actors in the workforce and innovation ecosystem, contributing to Jordan’s economic growth. Workforce and innovation ecosystem actors in selected sectors will trust HEI’s and value their engagement, and HEI’s and their partners in the private sector, government and civil society will have developed sustainable partnerships that improve employment outcomes and generate innovation.  

• Equip five Jordanian HEIs to partner with innovation ecosystem actors to solve societal challenges and promote economic growth.
• Create new opportunities for the Private Sector to collaborate with Jordanian higher education institutions to minimize the skills gap and increase HEI graduate employability.
• Foster partnerships between Jordanian educators, learners, civil society, policy makers, and industry actors to spur investments in high growth sectors with funding and support from an innovative Partnership Incubator.
• Reform or develop policies to create incentives and unlock barriers to catalyzing Jordanian innovation and economic growth.

• Assessments: The activity will conduct assessments with stakeholders across HEIs to gather data and evidence and identify areas for improvement to inform decision-making and technical and material support, focusing on performance across avenues for academia contributions to Jordan’s economic growth.
• Support selected Jordanian universities by providing technical assistance and material support in selected sectors to advance their capacity across core HEI functions (providing quality and relevant partner education and training, advancing knowledge and research, and engaging and strengthening networks and communities).
• Collaborate with Jordanian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to co-design an HEI Peer Network for Economic Growth, fostering collaboration and support among all Jordanian HEIs with the objective of elevating their contributions to the country's economic growth.
• Harness partnerships between U.S. universities and Jordanian universities to cultivate vital peer exchanges, design curriculum improvements, coach core function reforms, and explore collaboration on shared research.
• Launch a Partnership Incubator, a Partnership Incubator Fund, and a series of sector-focused Catalytic Collaboration Clusters to establish effective and sustainable platforms for collaboration among HEIs, the private sector, youth, community, and government stakeholders.
• Support the Government of Jordan in developing a supporting and aligned policy environment through evidence-based dialogue sessions that promote HEI collaboration for innovation and growth.