Dr. Hazem Shehadeh, Director of the Community Development Institute (CDI) of Community Service and Continuing Education Deanship (CSCED) at Islamic University of Gaza (IUG), participated in the International Training Week at Minho University in Portugal, as part of the international exchange projects funded by the European Erasmus Plus Program. There were 46 people from 26 partner countries who took part in the activity. The main goal of the activity was to share experiences and best practices in the field of internationalizing education.
The training week began with a meeting with Mr. Rui Vieira de Castro, President of Minho University, at the Presidency Campus, to welcome the participants and to point out the importance of internationalization programs in enhancing the knowledge and cross-cultural exchange of the participants.
Then a lecture was given about Minho University and its experience in international programs, especially exchange programs. Furthermore, the participants introduced themselves, their universities, and their specializations, where Dr. Shehadeh gave a presentation on the Islamic University and its most important achievements.
During the training week, which lasted for 5 days, Dr. Shehadeh attended panel discussions and workshops on how to develop ideas and formulate Erasmus Plus projects in the field of capacity building and international exchange with European Union countries, in addition to the role of Minho University and partner universities in stimulating education, which included success stories with partners and community stimulus, as well as a workshop and panel discussions dedicated to discussing ways of joint cooperation and developing partnership relations with specialists at participating universities in various fields of common interest.
The visit included a tour of the university’s library, museum, and various university departments, and a pre-planned visit to the integration center at Minho University, with the aim of identifying the services provided to students with disabilities, and how to deal with this category at the university in order to achieve equal opportunities in education for students with disabilities.
At the end of the training week, everyone was invited to a final meeting where certificates were given out and everyone was thanked for taking part.