Birzeit University Mourns the Passing of Intellectual and Educator “Khalil Mahshi”

It is with deep sadness that Birzeit University shares the news of the death of one of the university’s educators, intellectuals and mentors; Prof. Khalil Mahshi,  who was a renowned  educator, and one of the founders of The Education Faculty at Birzeit University. Mahshi passed away on January 01, 2017.

Birzeit University recalls Mahshi in several administrative positions; he chaired the Education and Psychology Department, and served as an assistant to the Dean of Arts in the academic years 1981-1984.

Mahshi was committed to his educational mission and believed that learning should be transferred by doing. He was a lecturer in the Education and Phycology Department of Birzeit University from 1975 until 1988. He also designed and managed a teacher training program and a literacy and adult education program in Birzeit University, in addition to a community research program.

Since August 2010, Mahshi served as the Director of UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP). He had extensive international experience at a senior level in educational policy, planning and management.  Before joining IIEP in 2001, he served as Director General for International and Public Relations at the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and before that as the director of the Ramallah Friends Schools (1986-1994).

He worked extensively in a number of countries, especially Afghanistan and Cambodia. He also assisted a number of countries in formulating sector-wide education strategic plans, such as Egypt and Palestine. 

Mashi was born in Ramallah in 1951, and was deported from Jerusalem by the Israeli authorities who denied him his residency rights in the city after he retired from UNESCO . He obtained  his MA degree in Physics Education and BSc degree in Physics from the American University of Beirut. He studied at Birzeit from 1969-1971 where he obtained the Associate in Science Diploma.