July 15 , 2009

Inclusion, Exchange and Cultural Heritage
June 2009 at Bethlehem University

Special Needs Conference

Attending the annual AHEAD (Association for Higher Education and Disabilty) conference in Ireland last October, members of Bethlehem University’s Special needs Committee Ms. May Jaber, Assistant to the Dean of Students, and Ms. Nabila Daqaq, Sociology Instructor, were inspired to organize a special needs conference in Palestine. AHEAD is an Irish organization involved in coordinating special needs programming in multiple European Union countries.

Ms. May and Ms. Nabila’s vision was of a conference that would discuss the Palestinian experience and invite advice from AHEAD experts. Thus Bethlehem University and the Qader for Community Development organization held the first-ever Palestinian conference on students with special needs in higher education on 3 June 2009.

The conference program blended advice from AHEAD representatives Ms. Ann Heelan and Ms. Mary Quirke about the Irish experience of special needs in higher education with accounts from a Palestinian university context. Special needs students spoke about the matrix of social and educational access challenges they face in obtaining a university education, while Palestinian university representatives analyzed current and anticipated future services for such students.

BU’s inclusion of special needs students has meant investment in both specialized equipment and personnel to support the learning process for students with physical disabilities.  Such investment is made possible by supporters like Friends of Bethlehem University in Ireland and the USA Western Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

“We do all of this,” said Brother Robert Smith, Vice President for Academic Affairs, “because we are committed to providing access to our programs for anyone who has the ability, the commitment and the determination to fulfill their aspirations of obtaining a university degree.”

Intercultural Exchange Program

A group of five Professors and twenty Students from the Catholic University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, visited Bethlehem University for the first part of this year’s Intercultural Exchange Program. Lasting from Monday, 8 June until Saturday, 13 June, the visit was part of an ongoing cooperation between the two universities. BU students and faculty will make a reciprocal visit to Germany in the second phase of this year’s exchange.

The Bethlehem program included two parallel workshops for students: a workshop for the Social Sciences Academic Exchange Program and one for the Education Research Project. Lecturers involved in the exchange presented papers on “Human Rights and Social Justice” as part of a lecturers’ conference. Other program activities included visits to local social organizations and to An-Najah University in Nablus.

4th International Conference on Palestinian Literature

Organized by Dr. Moin Halloun, Arabic Chairperson, the conference was the first in Palestine to address the subject of intangible cultural heritage. Researchers from the West Bank and two from abroad contributed analysis of Palestinian folk stories, proverbs and legends. The conference also recognized two academics, Professor Sharif Kanaana and Dr. Shukri Arraf, for their work in the field.

Professor Kanaana’s work highlights the role of humor in Palestinian folk tales, while Dr. Arraf’s research has tracked the process of change in former Palestinian towns and villages, whose Palestinian past has been replaced with an increasingly Israeli identity.

“While there is always something intangible about cultural heritage,” noted Brother Robert Smith in his opening remarks, “the two scholars we honor today have contributed mightily to making what is, perhaps in its essence, intangible, at least a bit more tangible and accessible to us all.”

Intercultural Workshop

Twenty-one students and one faculty member attended an Intercultural Workshop organized by the Office of the Dean of Students. Conducted by Dr. Inge Tiemann (AGEH) and Ms. May Jaber, Assistant to the Dean of Students, the workshop ran from 15 June through 17 June 2009.

“It was a rich experience, and besides, we had a lot of fun.” said Fatmeh Obedat, a BU student and workshop participant from Jerusalem. “I realized that I have a great capacity to get a better understanding of other cultures.”

The goal of the workshop was to reflect on how to interact with people from other cultures. Workshop activities focused on experiential learning, with participants role playing, building living sculptures and conducting small group exercises around the pitfalls and opportunities in intercultural communication.

Considering one’s own experiences of diversity within the Palestinian community may help to connect with the differences in foreign cultures, participants decided. Another workshop on Intercultural Learning is planned for the fall semester, 2009.