Dr. Nazmi Abdelsalam Al-Masri, Associate Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Islamic University of Gaza, has completed an international exchange period for teaching at Tampere University in Finland, as part of the international exchange activities funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ Program. Dr. Al-Masri was received by Dr. Vesa Korhonen, Dr. Polina Alenius, and Dr. Tahani Fora from the Faculty of Education and Culture at the University of Finland.
During his visit, which lasted about two weeks, Dr. Al-Masri gave intensive lectures in partnership with professors of master’s students at the host university. The lectures tackled several crucial topics, including: Palestinian university education under siege, Protracted crises: challenges, values, and hope, Humanization of electronic and online English language teaching and assessment. In addition to the importance of the English language and cross-cultural communication in the internationalization and development of higher education in Palestine and The Islamic University between challenges and successes: communication, networking, and negotiation skills for the internationalization of Palestinian higher education.
During his lectures, Dr. Al-Masri illustrated the following in detail:
- The success and distinction of the Islamic University in building a wide international cooperation network that includes more than 120 European universities.
- The university’s adoption of inclusive education for people with disabilities.
- The university’s leadership in developing freelance and remote work skills through the Business and Technology Incubator as one of the solutions to mitigate the unemployment crisis among Palestinian youth and its psychological, emotional, social, and national effects.
During the visit, Dr. Al-Masri participated in numerous meetings with Finnish experts in higher education and discussed the importance and mechanisms of developing education in Palestinian universities to enable Palestinian youth to obtain freelance work in global markets and provide a decent life for Palestinian youth and the Palestinian family. The meetings yielded an agreement to continue cooperation between the Islamic University and Tampere University in Finland and to submit a joint project within the Erasmus+ program in the domain of capacity building of higher education institutions.
It is worth noting that both universities have successfully completed an educational project entitled “Remotely Developing Educational Practices in Palestinian Higher Education Institutions” (FinPal), which lasted for three years and aimed at developing the skills of academics at the Islamic University and the universities in Gaza.