BZU is hosting the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's unique OpenCourseWare educational materials for local university students, via Birzeit University's campus network. MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) makes the MIT Faculty's course materials used in the teaching of almost all of MIT's undergraduate and graduate subjects available, free of charge, to any user anywhere in the world through the Web site http://ocw.mit.edu. However, in an effort to make these educational materials more accessible to students and educators from Palestine with an inadequate Internet connection, BZU is presently hosting a local copy of the materials, made available through the MIT Mirror Site Program.

"This initiative comes in coordination with our strategy to provide top notch educational experience to our students at Birzeit university and the Palestinian community at large," Said Dr. Adnan Yahya, the vice president of Academic Affairs at Birzeit University. "And we are looking forward to the point where our students and faculty utilize such resources to add to their knowledge"

A fundamental part of OCW's mission is to extend the reach and impact of OCW materials throughout the world. Much of OCW's outreach efforts have focused on developing countries, where OCW materials are largely underutilized due to limited Internet connectivity. OCW has installed a small number of mirror sites, or local copies of OCW content, at educational institutions such as Birzeit University, and evaluation data show that these mirror sites are having a significant positive impact on teaching and learning throughout the developing world.

"We are pleased that Birzeit University will be able to provide our content to the educators and learners of Palestine and the middle east" said Cecilia d'Oliveira, the Executive Director of the OCW project. "We understand that the MIT faculty's course materials are only useful if people have access to the materials, whether that be via the Internet, or Birzeit University's campus network. We look forward to learning from educators and students throughout Palestine what difference these materials make in their teaching and learning."

Hanna Kreitem, Information & Procedures Officer at BZU, explained that this initiative would make content available through local networks to students and faculty members in Palestine, and will reach its optimum use once the National Research and Educational Network is functional as it would allow high speed access at no cost within the network

Educators with access to the localized version of OCW on BZU's network are welcome to utilize the OCW materials for curriculum development, while students and self-learners may draw upon the materials from virtually all MIT courses for self-study or supplementary use. Access to the OCW mirror site at BZU is available through a link at the main page of BZU's Academic and Administrative portal, Ritaj, at http://ritaj.birzeit.edu .