External Relations at the Islamic University held an introductory seminar on the Norwegian Partnership Program for International Academic Cooperation (NORPART), which is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, electronically via the Zoom app .The seminar was attended by Dr. Hisham Madi, Deputy Dean of Foreign Affairs, and Dr. Sana Abu Daqqa – a faculty member in the College of Education and a member of a team funded by the Norwegian Partnership Program, Professor Wala Safi – Coordinator of Exchange Projects in External Relations, and a group of interested people from the university’s colleges and departments.
For his part, Dr. Madi indicated that the Norwegian Partnership Program for Academic Cooperation contributes to enhancing the quality of high education in Norway and the partner countries through academic cooperation and student reciprocal mobility.
Prof. Abu Daqqa spoke about her experience and expertise in developing and implementing a project for developing teacher education in pedagogy for early childhood education and basic education in Palestine and Norway, in partnership with Hebron University and the University of Southeastern Norway. She stated that the project contributed to the development of the MA programs in early childhood education, in addition to preparing a program for building educational and research capabilities for professors of the College of Education at the Islamic University and Hebron University.
Professor Wala Safi gave a detailed presentation on the program, and explained that the program contributes to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, especially with regard to ensuring quality and inclusive education for all, achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development, through Strengthening partnerships for education and research, increasing the quality and internationalization of academic programs in the participating institutions, as well as increasing student mobility between partner countries and Norway.
Professor Safi pointed out that the program supports many activities that contribute to achieving the general goal, such as joint development of curricula, courses and study programs and degrees, development of teaching methods and materials, and students’ participation in research activities and projects. She showed the terms of the proposed project budget of 6 million Norwegian kroner for each Submitted project.
Professor Safi discussed the mechanism used to evaluate the applications submitted to the program, including the relevance of the project to the goal and general objectives of the program, the impact, dissemination, sustainability and quality of the partnership and the quality of the project’s implementation plan, and indicated that submitting applications for complete projects ends on May 27, 2021.