Sixth Meeting of the PEACE Program Conference

Al-Quds Newspaper
28 February 2005

Bethlehem- from Najib Farraj. The sixth assembly of the PEACE Program (Palestinian-European-American Cooperation in Education) convened in Bethlehem University over the course of two days. 40 university presidents participated from Europe and Palestine. University presidents from Gaza could not attend because they were not granted permits to come to Bethlehem.

During the conference recommendations were adopted to support the development of Palestinian higher education, to provide it with academic expertise, and to send students from Palestine to European countries. Also, the recommendations addressed several projects including computer centers and libraries according to international specifications.

On the side of the conference an agreement was signed for the establishment of a high-tech research center in Palestine that will strengthen Palestinian expertise in scientific research and discovery.

Prof. Manuel Hassassian, President of the Steering Committee of the PEACE Program and Executive Vice President of Bethlehem University, stated that the Program, founded in 1991, wants to raise the standard of Palestinian universities in education, research, quality assurance, professionalism, and to develop the capacity of university administrators in Palestinian universities and to give M.A. scholarships to students and Ph.D.s to faculty members, in addition to supporting the infrastructure of Palestinian universities in computers and laboratory equipment.