University confers degrees on 230 students in summer commencement ceremony

Birzeit University celebrated the graduation of 230 students, the last group of the university’s 44th cohort, at the 2019 summer commencement ceremony on Monday, September 2, 2019. 

The university conferred bachelor’s and master’s degrees upon students from the faculties of education, business and economics, engineering and technology, pharmacy and health professions, science, arts, law and public administration, and graduate studies. 

In his welcoming remarks, President of Birzeit University Abdullatif Abuhijleh congratulated the students on ending their journeys at the university and wished them well as they are beginning a new chapter in their professional and academic lives. The graduates, he added, join thousands of other Birzeit University alumni who lead the development of their communities and shape the future of Palestine.  

Highlighting Birzeit University’s development in recent years, Abuhijleh said that the university now offers 111 academic programs that lead to bachelor’s and master’s degrees — with one Ph.D. program in social sciences. He stressed the university’s focus on community development through programs, workshops, seminars, and lectures offered by its 11 institutes and centers. 

Abuhijleh also emphasized Birzeit University’s position in international university rankings, highlighting the university’s stature as the foremost university in Palestine that is also considered among the top 3 percent of universities in the world, as indicated by the 2019 QS World University Rankings, and listed among the top 50 in the Arab world in the 2019 QS Arab Region University Rankings. 

These accomplishments, Abuhijleh noted, are the product of the joint efforts of the university’s faculty, staff, and students, who continue to achieve great results despite the Israeli occupation’s targeted harassments, be it by raiding the university’s campus, arresting students and faculty members — the latest of which was the arrest of media professor Widad Barghouthi — or denying visas for international or Palestinian-origin faculty and staff who work at the university or plan to do so. 

Christine Izz, an English language and literature student who gave the valedictorian’s speech, congratulated her classmates on their achievements and thanked the university faculty and staff for their continuous support.