January 23^rd. The Faculty of Engineering at An-Najah University participated in a workshop for engineering students at the Palestinian universities which was organized at the Faculty of Engineering at Birzeit University under the auspices of Arabtech Jardaneh, a company that specializes in architecture, engineering and total infrastructure consultancy.

An-Najah was represented by Dr. Riyad Abdel Kareem, Director of the Office of the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE), as well as Engineer Muhammad Dwaikat, Director of the Engineering Communication Center (ECC) at An-Najah.

The workshop shed light on the perception of practical training by engineering faculties as well as that by the engineering offices and institutions in Palestine. It aimed to highlight the importance of practical training and the way engineering institutions perceive such training.

An-Najah participated with three presentations, two of which were presented by Dr. Abdel Kareem. The first presentation was dedicated to the IAESTE while the other was a study that Dr. Abdel Kareem conducted in cooperation with Dr. Sameer Al-Hilo from the Faculty of Engineering at An-Najah on the reality of practical training in Palestine

The third presentation was delivered by Engineer Dwaikat in which he spoke about the experience of An-Najah’s Faculty of Engineering in establishing the Engineering Communication Center which works on managing and directing practical training as well as adopting student initiatives.

The participants also discussed the possibility of creating training programs in which all Palestinian universities participate, as well as proposing follow-up and control mechanisms to assess the training process. Moreover, they discussed the possible way to fund future student training.

Dr. Nabil Dmaidi, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at An-Najah, said that the Faculty places great importance on practical training for its students. This is important to bridge the gap between the academic knowledge that the students gain and the demands of the work market.

Dr. Dmaidi stressed that the Faculty will work on developing and supporting practical training programs to ensure that students get wider experience and better achievements, both in the field of academic study and practical work.

The ECC has already organized the first workshop on practical engineering training last May in which more than 400 students took part. A number of well-known related institutions and organizations participated in the workshop including the Engineering Association, the Palestinian Contractors Union, PICTI (Palestine Information and Communications Technology Incubator), and Alnayzak for Supportive Education and Scientific innovation. The second workshop will be held next May.

Worth to mention here that An-Najah has become a member at the IAESTE two years ago and has opened a special office that works on coordinating student exchange affairs in the different scientific fields.