First Ever IT project in Palestine
The BZU Faculty of Information Technology recently obtained approval from the EU "TEMPUS" Program* to implement a three-year project entitled “Joint MSc in Software Engineering.” This Project aims to: 1) enhance the capacity of the six consortium universities in Egypt and Palestine by enabling them to develop a sustainable program in software engineering, and 2) develop the human capacity of partner country universities by providing research collaboration opportunities with EU staff members through joint thesis supervision.
The partner country institutions include three universities in Palestine—the Islamic University of Gaza, Al-Quds University and Birzeit University—as well as three universities in Egypt—Cairo University, Helwan University and the Egyptian E-Learning University. Moreover, four European universities: Free University of Bozen - Bolzano, Italy; Harokopion University of Athens, Greece; Middlesex University, UK; and University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany, will assist the partner Arab universities in developing the MSc Software Engineering program to respond to local market needs and to develop and implement a total of 12 modules in Software Engineering in those country universities, using e-learning in teaching.
Project Coordinator, Dr. Yousef Hassouneh, talked about the Project’s work mechanism, which starts with needs identification and a market study, followed by development of the content for twelve courses in MSc Software Engineering. He added that this also requires short tutorial visits to the partner European universities.
Dean of BZU Faculty of Information Technology, Dr. Ali Jaber, noted: "This project will contribute to strengthening cooperation and communication between the Faculty and computer experts at European universities.”
*Tempus is a program of the European Union which supports the development of higher education in the Partner Countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean region, mainly through university cooperation projects.
