Prof. Maher Abu Eid, Vice President for Academic Affairs at An-Najah University, received a delegation from the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) at the Presidency Office, Old Campus. The delegation was headed by Dr. Sabe’ Kukash, Director of the Medical Services Department at the PFA in addition to a group of sport experts from the United Kingdom.

Attendees included: Dr. Sam Alfoqahaa, Director of the Public Relations Department at An-Najah, Dr. Waleed Khanfar, Dean of the Physical Education Faculty at An-Najah, Professor Jo Doust, Head of Chelsea School, Brighton University and Chair of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES), Dr. John Sugden, Professor of the Sociology of Sport at Chelsea School, as well as Patrick J. Wilson, from the European Society for Radiotherapy and oncology.

In the meeting, Prof. Abu Eid welcomed the guests on behalf of An-Najah President, Prof. Rami Hamdallah, and introduced them to the history of An-Najah, faculties, academic programs, infrastructure, facilities, and the scientific centers that offer services in various fields to the Palestinian society. He also talked about the University’s efforts and trends toward creating a sustainable and strong academic environment that meets the needs of the Palestinian.

The two sides also exchanged ideas about the mechanisms through which sport medicine and sciences can be developed at universities. They discussed the Palestinian sport activity and status through measuring it according to international sport standards. Moreover, they emphasized the necessity to set plans and projects’ proposals that aim to develop facilities and sport infrastructure in Palestine which would offer graduates new employment opportunities. Professor Sudgen said the Sport Medicine and Sport Science Development Project applies to a number of sport science including general sport medicine, sport medicine for people with disability, Physiotherapy, muscle strengthening and the Sociology of Sport.

Following the meeting with Prof. Abu Eid the PFA delegation and the British experts met with Dr. Khanfar and a number of the Faculty staff. Dr. Khanfar said that in addition to the sport equipment that the University already has, it seeks to establish a full sport infrastructure in order to serve the Palestinian sport and push it to new levels where it can compete in the various international sport events.