Current cooperations between Palestinian and Belgian Universities


Hereafter, you can find informations about the following current cooperation between Palestinian and Belgian universities :


Erasmus Mundus University II
Partners

European Partner Universities

  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)
  • Erasmus Hogschool Brussel (Belgium)
  • Cardiff University (School of Comp. Sciences) (UK)
  • Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
  • Università Degli Studi Di Roma "La Sapienza" (Italy)
  • Jagiollonian University of Krakow (Poland)
  • University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy of Sofia (Bulgaria)
  • Sabanci University (Turkey)
  • Agricultural University of Plovdiv (Bulgaria)
  • University of Health and Law Lille 2 (France)]

    • Partner Universities in Egypt

  • American University in Cairo
  • Helwan University
  • Higher Institute of Optics Technology Cairo

    • Partner Universities in Israel

  • Ben Gurion University of the Negev
  • Hebrew University in Jerusalem

    • Partner Universities in the Territories of the Palestinian Authority

  • An Najah National University, Nablus
  • Al Quds University, Jerusalem
  • Arab American University, Jenin
  • Al Azhar University, Gaza
  • Community College of Applied Science and Technology, Gaza
    • Summary

    A new project "Erasmus Mundus University II" (EMU II) has been approved by the European Commission within the framework of the European mobility programme: Erasmus Mundus External Co-operation Window (EM ECW). The objective of EM ECW is "to achieve better understanding and mutual enrichment between the European and third countries through promoting the exchange of persons, knowledge and skills at higher education level."

    The Vrije Universiteit Brussel took the lead to set up a consortium of 20 universities, 10 from Europe and 10 from the "Lot 2"-countries in the Middle East (Egypt, Palestine and Israel) which are partners of EMU II. (see list of Partner Universities below) With a budget of 6,000,000 EUR, the Project is intended to involve some 266 students at BA, MA and PhD level) as well as postdoctoral researchers and academic staff in mobility flows between Europe and the three countries in this region.

    Some 80 Palestinian students, researchers and academic staff of Palestinian universities will come for studies to the European universities. At the same time 7 European academic staff and postdoctoral researchers will go to Palestinian universities. The selection and admission of candidates is in progress and will be completed in time to allow students, researchers and academic staff to move to the receiving institutions by the beginning of the next academic year, or by 1 April 2008 at the latest.

    The PEACE Programme, which is an associate partner to EMU II and has been involved in the preparation of the Project, will play an active role in its execution.

    Link

    For more information please visit the EMU II website (http://www.erasmusmundus2.eu/).

    Palestinian institution Belgian institution Belgian promotor Link
    Jerusalem, Gaza and West Bank Inetrnational Center for Reproductive Health Marleen Bosmans and Marleen Temmerman summary
    An Najah, Nablus RUG Johan Mertens summary
    Bir Zeit RUG Guy Haegeman summary
    MOH hospital, Ramallah RUG Guido Van Nooten summary
    Bir Zeit VUB,RUG,ULB S. Smis, M. Cogen, J. Salmon homepage summary
    homepage summary
    Gaza university KUL Dirk Raes homepage - summary
    Bir Zeit RUG Michel Vanhoorne homepage - summary
    Institute of law at Bir Zeit APEFE summary
    Bir Zeit ULB Pascal Nardone summary
    PNA, PCBS, JMCC UCL Frederic Lapeyre homepage


    Rights and needs in sexual and reproductive health of refugee and displaced women.

     

    An Najah, Nablus - U. Gent

    Conservation of water ressources and environment restoration. Remedying water pollution, biodegradation and desretification.

     

    Bir Zeit - R.U. Gent

    Molecular characterisation of plant-derived substances.

     

    Minister of Health hospital, Ramallah - U. Gent

    Formation of a specialized medical team in the treatment of cardiopathologies

     

    Institute of Law, Bir Zeit - VUB, U. Gent, ULB

    The Institute of Law (IoL) was established in 1993 with the support of a consortium of European Law Schools, including for Belgium: Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Universiteit Gent (RUG) and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). The consortium functioned as a multilateral framework ensuring a coordinated support programme built on a variety of bilateral projects and agreements. Since its creation seven years ago, the results have proved to be outstanding. Thanks to a high degree of motivation and good coordination, the Consortium has been able to organize and support many activities and projects. Projects of the Flemish partners of the consortium include Birzeit Phase I (VLIR - Own Initiatives - 1997-2002 - Promotor: Prof. Dr. M. Cogen; RUG); a PhD scholarship of DGIS at RUG; an Institutional Co-operation Agreement between Birzeit and VUB and a VUBAROS PhD scholarship at VUB. The Phd scholarship holders are nearing completion of their doctoral research and they are expected to join the IoL again as faculty members in 2004. In the first phase of the development of the IoL, the main emphasis of the involvement of the consortium was on support for the educational aspects. First a two year Masters programme (LLM) was established; it focussed on international and local trade and commercial law as this was identified as a necessity for a new Palestinian state. Students in this programme held law degrees from a variety of universities. An undergraduate law programme (LLB) is being considered but the timing and form are yet to be decided upon. The idea for the current project was developed during a preparatory meeting at the IoL on 12-17 November 2002. The meeting discussed the future development of the IoL over the next five years. Three priorities were identified:
    • supporting the IoL during the full Israeli re-occupation of the Palestinian Territories by providing back-up for courses. The main problems notably include: difficulties for students and faculty to get to the University, faculty moving abroad, growing isolation from the outside academic world, planning of activities during times when military incursions, curfews, etc are frequent
    • developing two new Masters programmes on administrative and public (or constitutional) law to support the creation of a viable Palestinian state based on the rule of law.
    • development of an independent research programme outside of donor directed research projects. The programme will be developed by IoL and its researchers and will draw on the ideas and experiences of Palestinians. It will be based on the data compilation that IoL has done so far.

     

     

     

    Gaza University - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

    Due to a request of Gaza University, a cooperation begin in 1995 for the creation of a research center on the water. An interuniversity program (VUB-KUL), with the support of UNESCO and the Flemish government, set up a 2-year master (in english) about the water problem (15 grants/year are given), an "on site" educational program, furnitures for laboratories, 3 month-mission in Palestine for belgian students, reception of Palestinian students, lesson to Gaza students using video-conference (every week) and so on.

    In 2000, the first phase ends : 1400 Palestinian take benefits of the project. The second phase begins with the same partners (Flemish government and Gaza University) and some others joint the program : universities of West Bank, NGO, ministry for agriculure and water,... The project gather researches from the differents partners. Fifteen projects constructed by palestinians universities are funded.

     

    Bir Zeit - UZ U. Gent

    Foundation of a clinical biology laboratory in Ramallah. More informations here (text in dutch).

     

    Bir Zeit - Université Libre de Bruxelles

    In may-june 2003, Pacal Nardone (Prof. of Physics at ULB) give a seminar of physics at Birzeit. After that, with his palestinians colleagues they create a common program of cardiac data's analyse. This cooperation is well adapted to the situation in Palestiane because don't need so much funds or big laboratories.

    Some remarks about this project :

    • in order to allow Palestinian professors and students to access to informatic libraries of the ULB, some informatic trick is used...
    • Palestinians professors are competent because they make their PhD outside Palestine. This is not always the case of the students, so it seems to be necessary to find a system of grants for palestinians students coming in Belgium.

     

    Institute of Law of Bir Zeit - APEFE

    Situation : law studies were banned by Israel before the Oslo agreements. So the law professor are not specialized in the palestinian laws as they have studied outside Palestine. On the other hand, law studies are necessary if we want to create a real Palestinian State.

    Volonteer for the APEFE until june 2003, Nicolas Jacobs worked on a project of centralisation of all the laws in use in Palestine, and on a project of development of teaching programs of laws at Bir Zeit (creation of a Master). This second project, initiated in 1997 with support of DGDC (200 000 euros/year) is now supported by 8 european faculties of law (as Madrid, Amsterdam, VUB, ULB,...). This program support the visit of foreigner professors at Bir Zeit, summer schools (about juridic situation of Palestine) for european students at Bir Zeit, and so on.

    It seems that the correct operation and the succes of such a collaboration strongly depends on the motivation of the responsible (here, the 8 european universities), due to the polotic situation and the funding.

    Some general remarks :

    • the Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC) lacks of people to manage all his missions, including cooperations with Palestine.
    • the Belgian federal funds don't go directly to Belgian universities, but to the VLIR and the CIUF.
    • The "virtual teaching" (unsing the web) is well developed in Palestine (at least for masters), so the teaching can go on in spite of the plitical circumstances.
    The web-site of the Institue of Law of Bir Zeit University

    "Glossary"

    APEFE : the center for cooperation for Wallonie and Brussels.
    DGDC : the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation, part of the Belgian Federal Public service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Belgium.
    BTC : Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC) is an implementing agency which carries out development projects in cooperation with partners in developing nations on behalf of the Belgian government and other donors.
    VLIR : the Flemish Interuniversity Council.
    CIUF : the Interuniversity Council of french-speaking universities. The cooperation funds are managed by the CUD.