5 Education The 2011 survey found that education was strongly and positively correlated with higher household income across all camp refugees. Educational attainment amongst Palestinian refugees inside camps varies greatly between camps but has increased steadily overall since 1999, with younger cohorts outperforming older generations66 and young women generally outperforming young men (Tiltnes and Zhang, 2013, pp. 126–132). Ex-Gazans are no exception, although their attainment is somewhat lower than the camp average for non-ex-Gazans. However, in terms of academic post-secondary education, ex-Gazans residing in Jerash camp outperform both ex-Gazans elsewhere and other Palestinian refugees. Educational attainment Ten years of basic education are mandatory under the Jordanian educational system (covering elementary and preparatory). This is followed by secondary education (academic or vocational stream) for two years, or vocational education. While (non-secondary) vocational education does not qualify students for higher education, both the academic and vocational streams of secondary do. After secondary, students can either pursue vocational or professional studies at community colleges, usually lasting two years, or they can enter universities, where the first step is a bachelor’s degree. Amongst ex-Gazans in Jerash aged 25 and above 67, more residents fall at both extremes of the educational spectrum: 14% have no schooling at all, compared to 10% of ex-Gazans in other camps and 11% of other Palestinian refugees; at the same time, 8% of ex-Gazans in Jerash have completed at least a bachelor’s degree, compared to only 5% of ex-Gazans outside Jerash and 6% of other Palestinian refugees (Table 12). This picture remains the same when the middle-aged and elderly are excluded, and statistics are restricted to individuals aged 25 to 44: attainment of a university degree is two percentage points higher amongst ex-Gazans in Jerash than amongst non-ex-Gaza Palestinian refugees, and the gap between Jerash ex-Gazans and other ex-Gazans is even wider (Table 13). However, this gap seems to have been closing in recent years, with the proportion of Jerash ex-Gazans and other Palestinian refugees holding university degrees being similar amongst the 25 to 29 age cohort. The higher university degree attainment amongst ex-Gazans in Jerash is further offset by lower attainment of vocational community-college degrees (which is particularly low in the 25 to 29 and 30 to 34 age cohorts, An exception to this trend is the marked reduction in overall post-secondary education amongst camp residents aged 25 to 39 compared to those aged 40 to 44, as a consequence of a slump in the proportion of people under 40 who took community college degrees. At the same time, camp populations saw the proportion of people with university degrees more than double from the 40 to 44 age cohort to the 25 to 29 age cohort. These trends are associated with the reduced popularity of vocational education and community colleges, partly the result of government policy in the 1990s whereby community-college degrees were no longer sufficient to obtain a work contract in the civil service, raising the requirements to a bachelor’s degree (DoS & Fafo, 2005, p. 85). 67 By the age of 25, most people will have left the educational system, and so this group may be expected to have achieved their ‘final’ level of education. 66 ‘Just getting by’ Ex-Gazans in Jerash and other refugee camps in Jordan 47