Palestinian-Italian Academic Cooperation

As part of the Palestinian-Italian
universities project “Enhancement of the Palestinian
University System,” the regular meeting of
the Coordinating Committee was held at the BZU Center for Continuing Education on
5 July 2012. The University
of Pavia, Italy, presented the project to the Italian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs’ General Directorate on Development and Cooperation. The meeting was coordinated by the Vice President of the University of Pavia and
BZU Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Adnan Yahya. In attendance were coordinators
and representatives of the Palestinian and Italian universities, as well as the
Representative of the Italian Technical Cooperation in Palestine.

Dr. Yahya noted that the Project
is an important opportunity for faculty development,
since this cooperation allows BZU faculty members and students to
engage in professional relationships with their counterparts. He added that this Project opens the possibility for knowledge sharing and networking, which could breed long-term relations
between international universities and Palestinian academic
institutions. In fact, seven Palestinian universities have been
involved in the project: Bethlehem University, Al-Quds University, An-Najah
University, Hebron University, Birzeit University, Arab American University of
Jenin and the Palestine Polytechnic University of Hebron.

The time frame for this project
is three years, starting
January 2011 and concluding December 2013.