A German delegation headed by Mr. Miguel Berger, German Representative at the Palestinian National Authority, visited the Hisham Hijawi Faculty of Technology. The delegation met Prof. Maher Natsheh, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Prof. Samer Mayaleh, Dean of the Hisham Hijawi Faculty, as well as other professors and instructors at the Faculty.
Prof. Natsheh thanked the German people and government for their ongoing help and support for the Palestinian people. He also thanked their efforts to establish this Faculty, that graduates technicians in various majors, indicating that this kind of education is very necessary for the Palestinian society.
Prof. Mayaleh talked about the faculty and its different departments and the rapid development it has been doing. He mentioned that six more departments have been opened to enable more students to join the Technical Faculty. He encouraged other groups to help graduates obtain loans so as to open their own projects, thus helping them to get a better confidence in themselves and their education.
The two sides of An-Najah administration and the German Delegation, representing the German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ), conversed about co-operative projects and the possibility of taking more students and opening more vocational majors. Also discussed was the involvement of the Ministry of Education to encourage high school students to choose technical education whilst at school.
The delegation took a tour around the faculty, viewing the different areas, labs and technical equipment. Mr. Berger expressed his satisfaction and happiness to see the fast development of the Faculty. Prof. Mazen Rasekh, of the Electrical Engineering Department and member at the faculty board, talked about the importance of providing the students with suitable training facilities in Companies and Factories and a need to send good students abroad to continue their education and obtain proper training.
The idea of a Technical Faculty started in 1982 when the late Mr. Hisham Hijawi proposed the idea to the An-Najah administration and Board of Trustees. His son then carried on with the project after him and worked on developing international relations with foreign institutions like GTZ and others, which later on played a great role in opening and developing the college until the first class graduated in 2002.