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), and in the Magna Charta of European Universities (1988).

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. 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. An office of the Programme was established at UNESCO, in Paris, in 1995.

Several international conferences devoted to specific topics of higher education development in Palestine were organized jointly with the General Assembly meetings: 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 January 2008) 64 members: 53 European and 11 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 Universitie4s (EAU), the Association of Arab Universitites ( 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 helps set up academic programmes at Palestinian universities. In keeping with the spirit which lead to its foundation, PEACE seeks to play also a much wider role as a means of international opening, 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. Over 100 of them have been offered this possibility by PEACE over the sixteen years since its creation. They are now teaching at universities in Palestine. During the current academic year (2007-2008), 23 Palestinian students are at European universities on grants or other arrangements facilitated by PEACE. It is envisaged to have 25 Palestinian PEACE grantees per year over the next four academic years. The “Erasmus Mundus University II” Project (EMU II), approved in 2007 by the European Commission has opened new prospects for studies abroad for Palestinian students and young academics. Coordinated by Vrije Universiteit Brussel – which is a member of PEACE – the Project will offer some 80 grants to Palestinian students, researchers and academic staff to go to European universities, while European students and academics will go to Palestinian universities to teach and do research.  (For details see http://www.erasmusmundus2.eu/).

2. Academic Programmes and Research

• 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.

• 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 at the universities of Bethlehem and Birzeit. The envisaged Centre is meant to help develop such programmes at the other Palestinian universities as well.

• Establishment of an Educational Hospital at An-Najah National University. Aimed at filling in a badly felt need, the Project is based on broad international cooperation and assistance. The University of Medicine and Law of Lille (Lille II) is the major European partner but several other universities from Spain, Belgium, Norway and Malta have expressed interest to be associated to it.

• E-Learning and Open and Distance Education at Palestinian Universities. This project is meant to help respond to the pressure for increased access by growing numbers of secondary school graduates, to enhance the quality of programmes and develop new ones in priority areas for national development and, more importantly, to help 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.

• Teacher Education. Through this Project, PEACE will seek to associate its member universities to the execution of UNESCO’s major Palestinian Teacher Education Initiative which is in the process of being launched. It is also envisaged to set up a UNESCO Chair on Information Technologies and Teacher Education, to help coordinate and execute the project. 

At the same time, PEACE wishes to resume and reinforce its participation in several projects which had been interrupted because of international mobility difficulties, notably: Water Resources Management, Microelectronics and Computer Science and Business Administration and Law.

3. Bilateral Cooperation Programmes in Support of Palestinian Universities

Many PEACE Programme member universities have initiated comprehensive 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.

 FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THE PROGRAMME

An International Conference on Research Development in Palestinian Universities was held at UNESCO, Paris, on 4-5 November 2007. It was attended by over 70 participants - rectors, vice rectors, senior level academics, directors of international relations offices and students - from 37 higher education and research institutions in Europe and the USA. The proposals and recommendations that emerged from its debates will serve as guidelines for the future action of PEACE to promote research at Palestinian universities.

The 7th Session of the General Assembly of PEACE, which followed immediately after the International Conference, examined the Report of Activities over the period 2005-2007, taking note of the significant achievements of the PEACE Network whether they concern the Scholarship scheme or the launching - or preparing the ground for the launching - of several academic projects. It also adopted the Plan of Action for 2008-2009, which sets as a target to reach the figure of 25 Palestinian PEACE grantees per academic year and to begin implementation of several academic Projects.

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, contact Prof. Dumitru Chitoran, Advisor to the PEACE Programme Office at UNESCO, or Elisabeth Petzl (email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).