7^th International Conference and 8^th Session of the General Assembly of PEACE

The PEACE Programme is pleased to announce its 7^th International Conference to be held on 22 and 23 November 2010 at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona. The 8^th Session of the General Assembly will also be held on 23 November in the afternoon, at the end of the International Conference.

Devoted to International Academic Cooperation and the Palestinian Universities, the conference will focus on the priority needs of Palestinian universities that could be met through international academic cooperation. It will present succesful past experiences and projects carried out with the support of the PEACE member universities, to focus then on prospects and ideas for the future action of the PEACE Programme.

To mark the celebration of 2010 as the International Year of the Raprochement among Cultures, a special session of the Conference will be devoted to the Role of universities in promoting dialogue among cultures and civilizations. Presentations of positive experiences and good practices of universities from various parts of the world will be complemented with a special focus on the role of Palestinian academics in promoting dialogue among cultures and civilizations.

The conference will take place prior to the 5th International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education, held in Barcelona from 23 to 26 November 2010, giving participants the possibility to attend the two conferences.

PEACE is looking forward to a very successful event, attended not only by its member-universities but also by many other institutions and individual academics, who are supportive of its efforts to help Palestinian universities overcome the difficulties they have been confronted with for so long.

The full programme of the Conference and the draft Agenda of the General Assembly as well as technical details concerning registration and accommodation arrangements will be sent out soon. 

On behalf of the Steering Committee

Prof. Dr, Radwan Barakat,                   Prof. Frédéric Ogée

Dean of Academic Research,                Vice President for Interantional Relations,

Hebron University                                 Université Paris Diderot (Paris 7)

President of PEACE                             Vice President of PEACE

The initiative to launch a programme of academic cooperation with the Palestinian universities was taken at an international solidarity conference convened by several European universities - members of the Coimbra Group - at the University of Sienna in August 1991 when most Palestinian universities were closed. Soon afterwards, at a ceremony held in Jerusalem, on 1 November 1991, the rectors and presidents of twelve European (Barcelona, Coimbra, Granada, Krakow, Leiden, Leuven, Louvain, Namur, Pisa, Salamanca, Siena, and Viterbo) and their colleagues from six Palestinian universities (Al-Quds, An Najah National, Birzeit, Bethlehem, Gaza Islamic, and Hebron), signed an agreement to officially launch the Programme for Palestinian European Academic Cooperation in Education (PEACE).

PEACE is based on the principles of the right to education and the right to culture, as proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966), the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960), and on the right to academic freedom, as defined in the Lima Declaration on Academic Freedom and Autonomy of Institutions of Higher Education (1988), the Magna Charta of European Universities (1988) and the Sinaia Statement on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy (1992).

The initial financial support received from the European Commission to fund study abroad for Palestinian students as well as the constant support of UNESCO were instrumental in setting up the PEACE Network and developing its activities. When UNESCO launched its UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme in 1992, PEACE was recognized as a UNITWIN Network and has been functioning within that framework ever since. An office of the Programme was established at UNESCO, in Paris, in 1995. Other international organizations and foundations have extended support to PEACE activities, especially to its Scholarship Scheme. But the major support comes from its member universities.  In addition to paying a membership fee and providing grants for the Palestinian students, they seek financial support from their national authorities, from foundations, and from the private sector to fund PEACE activities.  

The decision making bodies of the PEACE Network are the General Assembly and the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee meets regularly (at least once a year) while the General Assembly meets every other year - alternatively at a Palestinian and at a European university – to examine the report of activities and to plan future action. Everyday activities are carried out by the Executive Bureau of the Steering Committee, assisted by the the two PEACE offices established at UNESCO and at the University of the Palestinian President of PEACE (currently Hebron University).

Several international conferences devoted to specific topics of higher education development in Palestine were organized jointly with the General Assembly sessions of the Nyetwork: Academic Cooperation in Support of the Palestinian Higher Education Institutions (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, 18-19 November 1994); The Role of Higher Education in the Context of an Independent Palestinian State (Nablus, 7-9 November 1996); Five years of Autonomous Rule in Palestine. The Role of International Cooperation in Higher Education (Ghent, Belgium, 23-24 April 1999); University Cooperation for the Progress of Civil Society in Palestine (Bethlehem, 25-27 February 2005); Research Development at Palestinian Universities (UNESCO Paris, 4-5 November 2007). They were very well attended and have given fresh impetus to the PEACE Programme by extending its membership and the range of its activities.

The Network counts at present (March 2011) 66 members: 53 European and 13 Palestinian universities. It cooperates closely with the major NGOs of higher education: the International Association of Universities (IAU) the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP), the European Association of Universities (EAU), the Association of Arab Universities (AARU), the Community of Mediterranean Universities (CUM), etc.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PEACE PROGRAMME

As an interuniversity network which seeks to promote international academic cooperation with the Palestinian universities, PEACE focuses its action on those areas in which international cooperation has made full proof of its efficiency, notably by contributing to raising the quality, efficiency and relevance of teaching and research at Palestinian universities and enhancing their institutional and staff development. This it does mainly through facilitating study abroad for Palestinian graduate students and for young academics, to upgrade their training and return to teach at their universities of origin. It also facilitates staff exchanges and helps set up academic programmes at Palestinian universities. In keeping with the spirit which led to its foundation, PEACE seeks to play also a much wider role as a means of international opening for the Palestinian universities, of overcoming difficulties and isolation, and of removing entrenched tensions and animosities that have accumulated during long years of turmoil. The PEACE Programme pursues these goals in a spirit of genuine academic solidarity, with the aspiration to make a contribution - as suggested by its acronym - to the peace process in the Middle East.

ACTIVITIES OF THE PEACE PROGRAMME

Its action is focused on the following main areas:

1. Faculty Development and Academic Mobility

The first priority of PEACE is to support postgraduate students and young academics to upgrade their training abroad and to obtain higher degrees. For that purpose it has set up the PEACE Scholarship Scheme, aimed at providing possibilities for graduate studies abroad (mainly for the PhD degree) for Palestinian students and young academics. More than 100 of them have been offered this possibility by PEACE over the sixteen years since its creation and most of them are now teaching at universities in Palestine.  

The PEACE Scholarship Scheme has been exceptionally successful over the last four academic years as indicated by the constant grooth of annual granteess from 4 PEACE grantees in 2004-2005, to 7 in 2005-2006, 17 in 2006-2007, 27 in 2007-2008, 27 in 2008-2009 and 27 during 2009-2010.  It is envisaged to stabilize the number of PEACE grantees to at least 25 per year over the forthcoing period, thus rejiforcing the role of the PEACE Scholarship Scheme as the main line of action of PEACE and as a major contributor to academic staff development for the Palestinian universities.

2. Academic Programmes and Research 

Several initiatives have been developeed with a view to enhanxe the quaility of teaching and research at Palestinian universities, as presented in the select list below: 

• Centre of Excellence in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Birzeit
  University (ECCE-Birzeit). Initiated by a group of well-known mathematicians and physicists from Europe and the USA and based on broad international cooperation and support, the Project is aimed at enhancing teaching and research capabilities in these academic fields. (For details of the project see http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/ifk/ecce). A UNESCO Chair and Network for Mathematics and Theoretical Physics was set up in 2007 at Birzeit University to serve as a focal point for the Centre. An international Workshop of the Center was held on 28-30 July 2008 at Birzeit University.

• Centre of Advanced Studies and Research in International Cooperation and Development in Palestine (CASR-ICD). Initiated by the Universities of Pavia and Sienna, with support form the Italian Ministry of Higher Education and Research, this project has started with a Master Degree Programme (MICAD) at the universities of Bethlehem and Birzeit. The envisaged Centre is meant to help develop such programmes at the other Palestinian universities as well.

• E-Learning and Open and Distance Education at Palestinian Universities. This new project is meant to help respond to urgent needs facing higher education institutions at present, namely (i) the pressure for increased access by growing numbers of secondary school graduates, (ii) enhancing the quality of programmes and develop new ones in priority areas for national development and (iii) helping surmount the difficulties caused by the frequent closures of institutions and the daily ordeal for both students and academic staff to reach their campuses. The Project builds on work done within the framework of the Avicenna Project (http://pleiad.unesco.org/portal/), executed by UNESCO with financial support from the European Commission by further developing the capacity of the Avicenna Knowledge Centre at Al Quds Open University, while enhancing infrastructure facilities and service capacities for ODL at the other Palestinian universities. The ultimate goal is to establish a Virtual Palestinian University, working in close partnership with the traditional universities and based on strong ties with similar institutions abroad.

• Palestinian Teacher Education Strategy. PEACE has expressed its readiness and has taken steps to associate its member universities to the execution of the Palestinian Teacher Education Strategy launched by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education with the support of UNESCO and of the European Commission. It has created a consortium of universities which had expressed interest in the Project. Two of the current PEACE grantees pursue PhD studies in the filed of Education at the universities of Nottingham and Granada respectively.   

3. Bilateral Cooperation Programmes in Support of Palestinian Universities

Many PEACE Programme member universities have initiated cooperation programmes with Palestinian universities on a bilateral basis and have submitted them to their national authorities and to other donors for financial support. The role of the PEACE Programme is to provide links between such bilateral initiatives and cooperation arrangements, so as to assure mutual reinforcement and increased impact of action in favor of Palestinian universities.

4. Major PEACE event in 2010

An International Conference on International Academic Cooperation, an Efficient Tool to Enhance the Quality of Teaching and Research in Palestinian Universities was held in November 2010, in Barcelona. Having in mind the celebration of 2010 as the International Year for the Raprochement among Cultures and in order to secure wider visibility to the event, it was decided  to devote a special session of the Conference to the Role of the Universities in Promoting Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations. The Conference was placed under the auspices of UNESCO and the UN Alliance of Civilizations in cooperation with the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures.

FUTURE PROSPECTS FOR THE PEACE PROGRAMME

PEACE has emerged as an efficient and cost-effective inter-university network for channeling international support to Palestinian higher education and research. The member-universities of the PEACE Programme look forward to the moment when conditions will have been created for Palestinian higher education institutions to function normally, in an independent Palestinian State, living in peace and security with all countries in the region. They are working with the conviction that their action contributes to drawing that moment closer in time.

For further information, visit the PEACE website (www.peace-programme.org) and contact Prof. Radwan Barakat, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Hebron University, President of PEACE, (email Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. ) or Ms Aïssata BA, PEACE Programme Office at UNESCO (email: Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. ).