In a press conference that was held in his office at An-Najah’s Old Campus by the office of the Palestinian Ministry of Information and the Public Relations Department, Prof. Rami Hamdallah, President of An-Najah University, announced the very soon completion of the first stage of the new Teaching Hospital and the ongoing preparations for the 32^nd graduation ceremonies.

Speaking about the Teaching Hospital, the President said the first stage of this unique project is scheduled to be launched this year. The sections of this hospital that are expected to start functioning include: Kidney, external clinics, Ophthalmology, bone surgery, Otolaryngology (ear, nose, and throat), Neurology, Blood vessels, urinary tract, cancer, specialized surgeries, Laparoscopic surgery, and general surgery. The total cost of this stage is estimated at around 45 million dollars.

In addition to the Teaching Hospital, Prof. Hamdallah also Zayed College for Nursing and Optics which was fully donated by Zayed Foundation in the United Arab Emirates with a total cost of 6 million dollars. Moreover, he spoke about the new scientific centers’ building which will be established soon, in addition to the Institute of Autism which is donated by Mr. Hatim Al-Zu’bi.

As the launch of the graduation ceremonies this year has come close, more than 3000 students from the various faculties and departments are preparing themselves for this long-waited moment in their life. In this respect, Prof. Hamdallah described the preparations that the University is making to celebrate the graduation of more than 419 students from the Faculty of Science, 565 from the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, 433 from the Faculty of Arts, 65 from the Faculty of Islamic Law, 495 from the Faculty of Engineering, 232 from the Faculty of Educational Sciences, 91 from the Faculty of Fine Arts, 10 from the Faculty of Agriculture, 88 from the Pharmacy Department, 18 from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 117 from the Faculty of Law, 117 from the Faculty of Information Technology, 35 from the Faculty of Human Medicine, 38 from Nursing, 2 from Optometry, 44 from the Faculty of Physical Education, and 214 graduates from the Faculty of Higher Studies.

In this regard, Prof. Hamdallah congratulated the students and their families on this achievement and hoped that these graduates would reflect the best image about their university and country wherever they go and work.

Furthermore, Prof. Hamdallah moved to talk about the new study fields that have been introduced to the University lately in response to the growing needs of the Palestinian society for such majors. Among the most important of these is the new PhD degree program in Physics which is the second PhD program to be integrated into An-Najah’s educational system after the PhD program in Chemistry. Additionally, the University has other new academic programs that have been recently introduced including the Master program in Pharmaceutical Sciences and several new Bachelor programs in power engineering, radio and TV and public relations.

Also, the President spoke summarized the different conferences and workshops that have been held at the University lately such as the First Palestinian Urban Forum, the Sport Conference and the Nano-technology Conference.

A new TV channel is planned for An-Najah University and will have an educational mission just like An-Najah FM had when it first aired in 2003.

Prof. Hamdallah expressed his pleasure and satisfaction by the advanced level and status that the University has achieved lately as well as the unique relationships it holds with other universities around the world.

He also spoke about the re-structuring plan that the University has implemented recently according to which several changes have been made to the faculties and their departments.