The 8th International Conference of the PEACE Programme was held jointly with the 9th Session of the General Assembly of PEACE on 14 December 2012 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

 The two main objectives of the event were to :

- give new visibility to the programme and present it to the main actors concerned ;

- outline its new plan of action along the three following lines:

1. Integration and support of doctoral students;

2. Faculty development and academic capacity building (faculty mobility, support of junior Palestinian researchers, setting-up of doctoral programmes);

3. Development and facilitation of e-learning and access to e-sources.

The December meeting was attended by several Presidents and Rectors of Palestinian and European Universities, as well as representatives from Ministries of Higher Education and Research, and International Organizations.

Devoted to Palestinian-European Academic Cooperation, the conference included two sessions and two roundtables that tackled:

1. joint PhD programmes, with focus on the French-Palestinian model, and

2. academic capacity building focusing on a UNESCO perspective and the Palestinian model of accreditation and quality assurance for academic programmes.

The final Report will be shortly online. 

For any further information regarding the event, please contact Ms Annapaola Coppola

( Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. )

ATTACHMENTS TITLE

Final Programme PEACE 8th International Conference.pdf	[ ]	120 Kb
List of Participants 8th PEACE International Conference.pdf	[ ]	212 Kb
Opening Session 8th PEACE International Conference	[ ]	3904 Kb

The PEACE Programme would like to draw attention to an initiative for telescopes for children in Gaza. Prof. Suleiman Baraka would like to introduce the field of astronomy to schools and the three universities in Gaza. In order to cover the costs (the price of one telescope is 1.100 US dollars), this initiative is in need of support.

If you are interested in supporting this initiative, please contact Mr. Ahmed M. Elraai:
Ahmed M. Elraai
Gaza-Palestine
Mobile : +972599331287
E-mail : Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir.

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.