Structure of Higher Education in Palestine |
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 For community colleges, there are two modalities, one is public, and the second is private. The private could be modeled on- non-profit foundations. Both should be encouraged to provide the technical and medium core of the Palestinian cadre. The education here should be linked to the needs of the community. It is important to stress languages and technical know-how. For university higher education, it is important to dwell on the success of the current eight universities which exist now in They need to be reinforced and organized in term of diversity of programmes, levels of programmes, quality, teaching and research, better infrastructure laboratory and workshop facilities. The need to use the state-of-art innovations in higher education should respond - but not be limited - to the needs of the growth and development of both public and private sectors of the The Palestinian universities should be independent and fully autonomous in term of management and in running their own affairs. Each university devises its own curricula, its own programmes, its own ways of development. They should not form a xerox copy, but should be diversified on their own to compete among themselves for quality, for better programmes and facilities. Each university should develop its own structure under its own independent board of trustees, who appoints the president and safeguards the independence and freedom of expression of the university. In addition, each board of trustees should be engaged in a continuous' campaign of fund-raising for the development of the university. There is a need for a council of higher education to coordinate and develop the state policy of higher education and to become the national steering mechanism to diverting financial resources from the state or foreign sources to fund the universities No ministry of higher education should be created, because it has proven in other Arab countries to be ineffective and fringes on university independence. It also creates bureaucratic structure and red tape which hinders the growth of competition among universities. Any say about duplication is over exaggerated, because without duplication, competition for quality will be hindered and monopoly which yields low quality would prevail. Financing Higher Education 1. Through the Council for Higher Education, the State should contribute to financing higher education institutions based on prorate of students admitted in science, engineering, technical fields, management and administration and humanity fields - each category has a level of allowance per student. 2. The European Community and other multilateral and bilateral funding sources should be approached with concrete projects for building the infrastructure of the higher education system for the 3. Universities should be allowed to set their own student fees to cover their operating costs and compete for better quality of education. The fees should be paid by all students admitted to the university. However, low-income students who meet the criteria of admission may be helped to cover their fees in the following manner: a. "Student loan" from a revolving fund, to be created in each university. Students, once they graduate and become employed, should return the "debt" to the university revolving fund to be utilized for other needy students. b. Government scholarships for students who meet the criteria of admission. This will support both the State in building its own cadre of professionals, and the University for covering part of their student fees. c. Study-through-working, where students are encouraged to work part time on or off campus to finance their education. Students here may be allowed to enrol as part-time students which may require an extra year or more to complete the requirements of their degrees. d. Fellowships from international agencies, foundations or local industries to support some students. UNESCO has sent two missions to One mission has produced the report on Higher Education in the Those two studies, which were undertaken by UNESCO, commenced immediately after the peace accord was signed with I would like to close by saying that the work that has been done so far by higher education system in The We should be more coherent in terms of what new disciplines and trans-disciplines need to be created and how to co-ordinate higher education and provide a sustainable funding mechanism. The linkages with other universities, whether we talk about networks with European universities, with American universities, or with Arab universities, are very important links to promote the higher education system. Those bridges bring knowledge, bring expertise, provide scholarships, short-term and long-term training. Also, what is needed, really, is to draw on the Palestinian Diaspora through "TOKTEN' projects, where the transfer of knowledge could be bridged to So Palestinians abroad will be intimately linked to contribute to build their dreams for a great country, a prosperous democratic The floor was then given to Professor Gabi Baramki for the closing address of the Conference and for the adoption of its Recommendations. Professor Baramki began by stating that the International Conference on The Role of Higher Education in the Context of an Independent Palestinian State has successfully met the objectives for which it had been convened, and will play a positive role in the future development of Palestinian higher education and in promoting international co-operation between Palestinian and foreign universities. he referred to the numerous concrete proposals for future action and to the recommendations made in the various Conference sessions and in the working groups. This, he pointed out, renders it difficult to present to the Conference a final text which could be adopted as "The Recommendations of the Nablus Conference".; He asked the participants to entrust the Organizing Committee of the Conference and the Steering Committee of the PEACE Programme to prepare such a final document and to assure its wide Circulation. In the light of the debates of the Conference, Dr. Baramki stressed that higher education should be viewed as the basis for development and for meeting the social and economic needs of the Palestinian society. At the present stage in the historical development of the Palestinian society, higher education is called upon to make a special effort towards developing awareness of the national identity, national integration and statehood. Above all else, it is important to raise the quality of its teaching, training and research. In this latter undertaking, international co-operation and initiatives such as the PEACE Programme constitute efficient and cost-effective instruments and ways of action. Summing up the recommendations presented in the various sessions of the Conference, Dr. Baramki pointed out that they centred on two main themes: 1. Solidarity through action; 2. Stressing high quality programmes at Palestinian universities. With regard to the first axis, he emphasized that solidarity with Palestinian universities has been the major reason for the establishment of the PEACE Programme. At present, it has become a priority to match the expression of solidarity with action. In concrete terms, the support of the PEACE partners is expected to be in the form of human resource development, more specifically: a) Training university staff in the management of universities; b) Faculty development, to meet immediate and long-term needs of the universities for qualified teaching and research staff. With regard to enhancing the quality of education at Palestinian universities, the speaker pointed out that this is, at present, a priority of the Ministry of Higher Education. The PEACE Programme can help in several ways: a) scholarships and grants for study abroad, with stress on selecting young graduates with the relevant skills and potential for study in high quality programmes, so as to bring new blood into the faculty; b) Support for scientific research, both basic and applied. This should take the form of joint research programmes between Palestinian universities and other member universities of the PEACE Programme. In this respect, the establishment of a National Research Council by the Ministry of Higher Education would be an important step in the support of research in general and at universities in particular; c) Assistance for the establishment of graduate studies in relevant fields. Such vertical expansion needs to be done gradually and with a great deal of thought and proper feasibility studies. Planning ahead is vital in order to make sure that both human resources (software) and the infrastructure (hardware) are available, prior to launching any graduate program. Prof. Baramki concluded by expressing warm thanks to all participants - both Palestinian and foreign for attending and bringing their active contribution to the success of the Niiblus Conference. He then thanked the Palestinian National Authority and the Ministry of Higher Education for extending their full support to the Conference, as well as UNESCO and the European Commission for their generous financial and intellectual contribution. Special thanks were conveyed to He also thanked the PEACE Programme, the staff of its office in Paris and Mr. Y ousef Dajani, from the Ministry of Higher Education for the special effort to assure the preparation and successful holding of the Conference. At the end of the session, a French participant asked for the floor in order to present, on behalf of the French universities represented at the Conference, a strong protest against the closure of several Palestinian institutions of Higher Education including He called the participants in the Conference to ask the Israeli Government to put an end to the harassment of Palestinian academics and students, in disregard of academic freedom and university autonomy. Such acts do not help stability and peace in the Region. |
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Structure of Higher Education in Palestine
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