A Delegation from the French City of Lille visits An-Najah
On Wednesday, February 25th 2015, Professor Maher Natsheh, Acting President of An-Najah received a delegation from the Institute of Land, Cities and Environment (TVES) and the University of Lille 2. The visit was part of the bilateral agreement An-Najah has with the University of Lille 1 through a joint project between the Urban Planning Engineering Department at An-Najah and the Department of Urban Planning at Lille University1.
Prof. Natsheh welcomed the delegates to An-Najah and commended the relations An-Najah has with the University of Lille 1, as well as the relations between Nablus and Lille as twin cities. He also briefed them on the long way An-Najah has come in recent years in acedemia, in research and in community service.
Professor Natsheh expressed An-Najah's wish to strengthen the ties with Lille University 1 and the French Universities in general.
In turn, the delegates expressed their joy for visiting An-Najah and gratitude for the hospitability with which they were received. They also commended the relations between the two universities especially in the field of urban planning.
Notes:
1- The delegation consisted of Dr. Pouline Boserdonee, Dr. Marie-Therese Gregiores, and two students from the Department of Urban Planning at TVES University of Lille 1, in addition to Mr. Mathieu Goetzke, Head of the Urban Planning Department and Mrs. Virginie Thiery, and Mrs. Sidonie Caquant from the Lille Municipality and Mr. Vincent Bassez from the Architecture, Urbanism and Environment Council of North France.
2- The project’s joint urban planning project is funded by the Jerusalemite Programme under the supervision of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education. The Project includes a study on "Culture and Urban Renovation in the cities of Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron" and staff and student exchange between the two universities.
3- During their time in Nablus, the delegates also had meetings with the Nablus Municipality to prepare for an agreement between An-Najah, the University of Lille 1, Nablus Municipality, Lille Municipality and the and Architecture, Urbanism, and Environment Council in North France.
4- The meeting at An-Najah was also attended by Dr. Mohammad Amleh, VP for Academic Affairs, Dr. Khaled Sahili, Dean of Engineering and Information Technology and Dr. Ali Abdelhamid, Head of The Urban Planning Engineering Department and Project Coordinator.
