Zarqa University (ZU) was founded in 1994 in a strategic location to the east of Zarqa City, just six kilometres away, to be the first private university in Zarqa Governorate, with an area that reached three hundred and fifty acres. The University aims at going in parallel lines with the objectives and the strategies of public and private Jordanian universities. It also supports the different goals of Jordanian higher education system and meets the scientific, social, economic, cultural and human needs.

The University comprises thirty seven undergraduate majors, and eleven postgraduate programs in English Language and Literature, Accounting, Computer Science, Mathematics, Marketing, Software Engineering, Business Administration, Intellectual Property, Islamic Banking, Administration in Nursing, and Pharmaceutical Sciences. It also includes four deanships; the Deanship of Admission and Registration, the Deanship of Scientific Research, the Deanship of Students' Affairs, and the Deanship of Evening Studies, in addition to seven centers: Islamic Cultural Centre, Computer Centre, Language Centre, Centre of Continued Education and Community Service, E-learning Centre, Energy Research Center, the Center for Teaching English for Non Native Speakers.