The Competency Development Council at An-Najah held its eighth meeting in which Professor Jawad Fatayer, University President Assistant for Graduate Affairs and Chairman of the Council, the Council’s members and representatives of several local institutions participated.

In the meeting, Professor Fatayer and the attendants discussed the importance of institutionalizing the competency development project either through the graduation project or replacing the teaching materials with others specially designed for competency development purposes. They also spoke about the study fields available at the University, the necessity to provide the study areas that the local market needs, in addition to the importance of expanding the Council to include other institutions as members and to establish an orientation council at each faculty

Mrs. Hamira Al-Wakili, President of Tomorrow’s Youth Organization, spoke about the partnership between the Organization and An-Najah University with respect to various activities and training opportunities for university students which would provide them with key skills in communication and influencing others. The focus was on the latest partnership regarding promising young leaderships through which a group of young people were selected who participated in a training program in leadership; those young people will represent Palestine at the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference which is going to be held in the United States between March 30^th and April 1^st, 2012.

Mr. Anan Abu Shihab, Director of Partner for Sustainable Development (PSD), delivered a brief presentation about the partnership between PSD and An-Najah with respect to the ‘Think Tec” and “Netkitabi” campaign which aim to promote and raise technical awareness among schools so that children would develop technical awareness and a modern personality beginning with school study all the way to university life. He also spoke about the efforts that PSD is making to provide schools and universities in Palestine with devices and the training of students on the Netkitabi educational programs and the development of the educational content.

Alaa Abu Dheer, Coordinator of the International Youth Exchange Program (Zajel) at An-Najah, and Yuhki Ohnogi delivered a summary of the visits by the local experts and the workshops and lectures they delivered lately. They also spoke about the three summer camps that the Zajel Program is preparing to launch which would aim to develop the students’ competency in various fields such as English language and communication.

The Council stressed the importance of developing the electronic teaching approach and encourage the students to take part in the competency activities on a continuous basis, in addition to activating the extracurricular events at the University.