Student mobility program to fuse academic excellence with research cooperation

The Office of Grants and Contracts at Birzeit University held an information session, on April 17, 2018, on the 2018 Norwegian Partnership Programme for Global Academic Cooperation(NORPART) call for applications. 

The session, presented by Rana Elhaj Yaseen, grants and contracts officer at Birzeit University, and Dr. Amir Khalil, director of the Office of Grants and Contracts, detailed the aims, objectives, requirements, and application process for the NORPART program. 

“NORPART is a five-year academic partnership program funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education,” said Yaseen, introducing the program. 

The program, Yaseen further added, focuses mainly on student mobility, for master’s- and Ph.D.- level students, within the framework of larger joint projects between Norwegian and partneruniversities, such as Birzeit University. 

“Eligible master’s students can study at a NORPART-partner university for a period of 3 – 12 months, while eligible Ph.D. students can stay for 3 – 18 months,” she noted. 

Khalil remarked that such bilateral agreement programs and student mobility initiatives “provide opportunities for expertise exchange, academic collaboration, and joint research initiatives. Students are provided the opportunity to broaden their horizons and gain new knowledge and different perspectives.”