A delegation from An-Najah has recently concluded a visit to Europe as part of the Tempus Project: Knowledge of Recognition Procedures in ENPI Countries (RecoNow).

In the workshops An-Najah was represented by Engineer Sami Sadder from the Quality Assurance Unit, Dr. Jeehad Abdallah from the Faculty of Agriculture, and Mrs.Yasmine Sharour from the Faculty of Media.

The visit’s main event was a 5-day workshop that took place at the University of Bordeaux and discussed topics such as student exchanges with European universities and the importance of academic exchange, as well as the issue of certificate recognition, whether for work purposes in the home countries or to pursue higher studies.

The workshop also included an introductory session on the university systems in Ireland, France, and Italy and the differences between them. It touched upon the quality systems applied in the European universities to facilitate student transfer from other countries and universities, in addition to an introductory lecture on the participating universities. After the workshop, the participants were divided into three groups; the first made a field visit to the University of Bordeaux, the second visited the University College Corek in Ireland and the third to Bologna: University in Italy.

Within the first group was Dr. Jihad Abdallah, who visited a number of Faculties and Institutes at Bordeax University, including the International Relations Office, Admissions, the Political Science Institute, and the Bordeaux Institute of Technology. During this visit, Dr. Abdallah became acquainted with the activities and different programmes at these institutes as well as the possible means to establishing cooperation and the obstacles that such efforts may face. He was also introduced to programme (EXPECTIG U) which offers opportunities to staff members from around the world with good English capacity to participate in programmes that last between nine month and three years.

The second group among these was Engineer Sami Sadder and representatives of the Quality Units at participating universities to University College Cork in Ireland, where they were received by Mrs. Fiona Crozier, Director of the Quality Unit at the aforementioned college. Over three days, the representatives had meetings with the university officials on college level discussing administrative management, university governance, decision making, and forming various committees.

Mrs. Yasmine Sharour was part of the third group that visited the International Relations Office at Bologna University in Italy, along with representatives of partner universities from Palestine and Jordan. They were received by Mr. Filippo Sartor and Mr. Valentina Manzato the project coordinators at Bologna University, with whom they discussed the Italian experience with the project and the services Bologna University offers to students on scholarships, whether through TEMPUS, Erasmus Mundus, or the new Erasmus + Programme. They also discussed the importance of certificate equation and acknowledgment within the agreements between partner universities.

In turn, Dr. Emad Braik EU Projects Coordinator at An-Najh stated that An-Najah’s participation in this project comes as a part of its goal to reinforce partnerships between Arab and international universities and make use of them to strengthen international presence in Palestine. He added that the universities of Bordeaux, Cork, and Bologna are among the top European Universities and that cooperation with them would contribute to enhancing An-Najah’s quality of education. He went on to say that this participation is one of the primary steps of the project, which will later aim to receive delegations from European partner universities at participating Arab universities, including An-Najah.

Notes:

-          RecoNow project aims at improving and increasing the quality of student mobility within Middle Eastern and European higher education systems.

-          In addition to An-Najah, there were delegations from Birzeit University, University of Jordan, and Petra University.