Birzeit University’s Dean of the Faculty of Law and Public Administration Asem Khalil has successfully concluded a trip to Paris, where he attended a meeting of the French Universities  Consortium on February 18, 2013. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Sorbonne (Paris I), Kashan University, Rennes University, Aix-Marseille University, Nanterre University, Sciences Po-Paris and the University of Toulouse, in addition to a representative of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Participants in the meeting agreed on the need for continued cooperation between the participating French universities and BZU, despite the suspension of French government funding to the consortium after five years of support, and the need to find alternative means of funding. They also expressed a commitment to supporting visits of French professors to the BZU Faculty of Law and Public Administration, alongside student grants and support for the new doctoral program in social sciences.

Participants also agreed on the importance of developing a minor or major specialization in both English and French to be offered at BZU’s Faculty of Law and Public Administration. The program would mainly address comparative legal, political and administrative systems, in light of changes and transition towards democracy in the Arab world.