A report that was issued by the Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP) of the European Universities Association (EUA) praised the quality and transparency of the academic process at An-Najah University and highlighted the University’s progress with respect to community service in the different fields of life.

The IEP aims to provide the target educational institution with all support in its quest to achieve a dynamic administration of quality as a main tool to reinforce its strategic abilities. The Program is one of the EUA’s different programs. The IEP focuses on the institution as a whole not just on one program or administration and among its many features is that it offers support to the self-evaluation assessment concept and the development of knowledge to improve strategic management. Additionally, the IEP is considered a global European perspective that is supervised by a group of specialists in the field of evaluation and seeks to support the evaluated university in its quest to achieve development.

In its evaluation of the targeted institution, the IEP focuses on the decision-making mechanism, the university’s structure and the effectiveness of its strategic planning, in addition to the relationship between the internal evaluation processes and its effectiveness in the decision-making and strategic planning processes.

The evaluation process at An-Najah was performed based on the self-evaluation report that the University prepared and sent to the evaluation team which visited the University twice during February and April 2011. During its visit, the team was introduced to a number of related issues, made field visits to the University’s facilities and met with the officials.

Furthermore, the team met with Prof. Rami Hamdallah, President of An-Najah, who presented to them the University’s vision, goals and future plans, in addition to the obstacles and challenges that it faces currently. In addition to this, the team met with groups from the Board of Trustees, the Council of Deans, instructors, students, graduates, researchers and employers in the different sectors.

Based on the self-evaluation report that was sent to the IEP which included the University’s organizational structure, its strategic plan, a key sample of statistics and applicable rules, the relationship of the University with others inside and outside Palestine, and according to the results of the IEP’s team’s visits to the University, the final report was issued.

The IEP’s report came in 25 pages that covered the most important issues that the IEP team deemed so. Although the main objective of the evaluation was to identify the main points that the University can turn its focus on and try to develop such as the decision-making process and the relationship between the self-evaluation processes and the University’s strategic planning, the team has praised the University’s procedures and achievements before even mentioning the recommendations.

The team praised the University’s service to the Palestinian society and said it even surpasses that of many of its European counterparts. It also praised the University’s ability to work and make great achievements despite the very challenging and difficult conditions in which it operates. The IEP team also expressed its admiration by the way the University deal with its academic staff through encouraging them and helping them in their research work. It also mentioned the substantial role that the University’s Scientific Centers play in providing financial aid to the University as well as providing the society with a wide range of services.

In addition to these statements by the IEP, the team issued a number of recommendations to the University which included the restructuring of some of the faculties and centers, as well as identifying performance measurement indicators on the University’s level.

This report comes as another step through which the University seeks to achieve excellence after the strategic plan and other distinguished projects that it implemented. The report has proved that despite all the difficulties on the ground and the challenges ahead, An-Najah was able to achieve huge steps towards development.

Commenting on this, Prof. Hamdallah said: “I feel proud of what the University has achieved in the IEP and the astounding results it made”. The President also thanked the employees and students for helping the visiting team.