President of YU, Dr. Zeidan Kafafi, met with the country director of the Office of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Jordan, Ms. Hyo Jin Kim and the accompanying delegate. During the meeting, the two sides discussed means and ways of cooperation and the possibility of creating a sub-major in Korean language at the modern Languages department.
Kafafi stressed the keenness of Yarmouk to strengthen cooperation with the Korean Agency in various fields, pointing to the possibility of receiving specialists and academics to teach or train in various academic disciplines, especially in communications at the Hijjawi Faculty for Engineering. Kafafi, also, praised the agency's support through providing a Korean instructor to teach Korean language courses offered by Modern Languages Department, pointing to the possibility of creating a sub-major in Korean language.
The president stressed the importance of activating cooperation between the two sides, and increasing opportunities for students and faculty exchange, which enriches students’ knowledge and encourages experience’s exchange. He also added that YU may send students to be trained in distinguished Korean institutes, particularly in communications, and thanked the agency for the collection of books they gave to Al Hussein Library.
For her part, Kim praised the outstanding academic reputation of YU and expressed their readiness to support the university and take necessary measures to activate cooperation between them, and between Yarmouk and various Korean educational institutions.
The meeting was attended by Vice presidents, Dr. Ahmed Al Ajlouni and Dr. Fawwaz Al-Abed Al- Haq, vice dean of the Faculty of Arts, Dr. Yousef Bader, head of the Dept. of Modern Languages, Dr. Batoul Al-Muheisen, and the director of Public Relations and Media department, Mr. Mukhles Al-Ibbeni.
The faculties of Information Technology and Computer sciences, and Hijjawi for Technological Engineering at YU organized the graduation ceremony of the second batch of "PFISR” and “TEFSR" projects. The projects are supported by the European Union under the “HOPES” program grant, which is funded by the European Union Regional Trust Fund “MADAD” in response to the Syrian crisis, and implemented by the German Academic Exchange Service “DAAD” in partnership with the British Council, Campus France, and the Dutch Organization for Internationalization in Education "Nuffic".
The dean of the Faculty of Information Technology, Dr. Samer Samara and the dean of the Faculty of Hijjawi for Engineering Technology, Dr. Ahmed Al-Shamali, stated that the two projects open new horizons for Syrian students at Jordanian universities, and assist them during and after university education in terms of job’s seeking, and career path’s building that enable them to cope with their country's crisis and displacement, through transferring basic skills in Web applications, networks, e-commerce, and computer maintenance to Syrian refugees and community members.
The project’s manager, Dr. Anas Al-Sobh, said that "120" students were graduated, and more than 50 students were qualified for Training for Trainers (ToT) in accordance with YU’s plan to qualify students for the job market and provide them with the necessary knowledge and expertise. The work team of TEFSR, which included Dr. Amani Shatnawi and Dr. Anas Al-Sobh provided practical courses in websites and e-commerce sites’ programming. However, The PFISR team work which included Dr. Mohammed Al-Jarrah, Dr. Anas Al-Sobh and Dr. Amin al-Jarrah provided practical courses in computer networks design and maintenance, Web site programming and computer hardware maintenance.
The graduation ceremony was attended by the director of the Refugees, Displaced Persons and Forced Migration Studies Center, Dr. Ayat Nashwan.
It is worth noting that a new batch of students who are eligible to join the program will be received soon.
Dr. Anis Khassawneh, vice president of YU, sponsored a lecture titled "The Contemporary Refugee Crisis in Canada: An Overview of Psychosocial and Social Challenges". The lecture was given by Dr. Jehad Hammad, a Sociology professor at The King's University College, and president of Middle East Studies Institute in Canada, and was organized by The Refugees, Displaced Persons and Forced Migration Studies Center at Yarmouk University.
At the beginning of the lecture, Hammad thanked the Refugees, Displaced Persons and Forced Migration Studies Center for their invitation considering the consequences that the countries hosting refugees face, particularly Jordan, whose first experience in receiving refugees in the region has been the strongest despite the economic challenges it goes through. He also pointed out that Jordan has been dealing with asylum issues over the years due to its geographical location, which represents a home for most refugees in the region.
Hammad, then, reviewed the services that the Canadian Government provides to refugees and the procedures followed by the Canadian Asylum program, which provides economic, social and psychological support to refugees for a limited period, provided they sought work that suits them to be productive members of the Canadian society. He also pointed to the psychological pressures that refugees suffer from before, during and after the asylum process, as well as the social pressures they suffer to integrate with host communities.
At the end of the lecture that was attended by the director of the center, Dr. Ayat Nashwan, deans, faculty members, and a crowd of students, Dr. Hammad answered the audience' questions and inquiries.
The president of YU, Dr. Zeidan Kafafi, met with the vice presidents of the German-Jordanian University, Dr. Atef Kharabsheh and Dr. Dorit Schumann. Means and ways of cooperation between the two universities were discussed.
During the meeting, Kafafi stressed the importance of cooperation among Jordanian universities to establish qualitative academic programs for various degrees to meet students' aspirations and to keep up with the job market's requirements, which in turn, positively impacts the educational process and promotes higher education. He added that YU has strong relationships with various German educational institutions, and that YU is keen to activate cooperation that benefits the university and the students.
Kafafi pointed to the possibility of cooperation in terms of faculty exchange, and students' scientific visits. He also pointed to the possibility of sending students from the Hijjawi Faculty to receive training in German institutions with the German-Jordanian University performing as a link. The president added that cooperation can, further, be in terms of conducting joint scientific research, as well as experience's exchange to improve the teaching process in the two universities, and to prepare students with necessary skills to enter local and Arab job market, praising the academic reputation that the German- Jordanian University enjoys.
For their part, Kharabsheh and Schumann expressed the readiness of the German-Jordanian University to cooperate with YU, which enjoys a distinguished academic reputation in various academic fields, and the possibility of establishing joint programs for the master's degree, particularly in engineering and information technology. They added that cooperation between various Jordanian universities is necessary as it contributes to improving the quality of higher education outcomes in Jordan.
The meeting was attended by Vice president, Dr. Ahmad Al-Ajlouni, dean of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Dr. Hani Hayajneh, and officials from the university.
The president of YU, Dr. Zeidan Kafafi, met Dr. Stefania Chlouveraui of the University of Athens in Greece, where they discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two sides in various fields of archaeology and anthropology.
During the meeting, Kafai stressed the keenness of YU to open channels of communication and cooperation with various European educational institutions, which contributes to experience exchange and knowledge acquisition for faculty members and students. He added that YU’s administration seeks to encourage faculty members to attract international projects in various fields to enhance the university's rank and scientific research.
Kafafi expressed his pride of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, and its distinguished faculty members, pointing to the need to strengthen cooperation between the two universities considering the many heritage sites in Jordan that need to be studied to understand the history of humanity and preserve our ancient cultural heritage.
Chlouveraui praised the outstanding academic reputation of Yarmouk, particularly in the field of antiquities and conservation of heritage sources, stressing the keenness of the University of Athens to cooperate with YU in terms of faculty members and students’ exchange, conducting joint scientific research and international projects on archaeological sites’ maintenance. She added that the University of Athens is ready to receive two more students from Yarmouk in May to study for a semester of their master's degree, in addition to the three students who are currently there.
The meeting was attended by Dr. Hani Hayajneh, dean of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Dr. Ziad Al Saad from the Dep. of the Conservation and management of Cultural Resources, and Mr. Mukhles Al-Ibbeni, the Director of the Dept. of Public Relations and Media.
Deputizing for the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, the president of YU Prof. Zeidan Kafafi sponsored the opening ceremony of the BITTCOIN-JO program, which comes under the Erasmus+ program supported by the European Union. The program aims at establishing technology transfer centers in higher education institutions in Jordan, and is implemented by YU in collaboration with twelve academic and industrial partners from Jordan and Europe.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, Kafafi said that YU strongly believes in the importance of creating effective relationships between academic and industrial sectors. He stressed the importance of benefiting from European universities’ experiences in the field of technology transfer and applying them in the Jordanian higher education system. Kafai then praised the efforts of the project members for their hard work and dedication to ensure the program's success.
The president also stressed the keenness of YU to graduate qualified, distinguished, and creative youth energies to be active individuals who can make positive changes in their society. He further pointed out that Yarmouk offers training courses and programs to its employees, students and to the members of the local community in various areas, in collaboration with business and industrial institutions as well as non-governmental organizations and other local or international institutions, pointing out that YU have established several incubators for various companies to provide training opportunities for students and to prepare them to enter the job market efficiently and competently.
For his part, Dr. Ahmad Abu-El-Haija, the director of the Erasmus+ office in Jordan, said that the EU-funded Erasmus+ program is a European collaborative program that supports project partnerships, exchange, policy dialogue in education and training, youth and sports, and offers opportunities for higher education institutions, employees and students from all over the world.
Abu-El-Haija further added that the European Union funded 91 collaborative projects in which Jordan participated in the past 15 years: 54 projects within Tempus program and 37 projects within the Erasmus program. Jordan received 16 grants with a share of 38 million euros for implementing the projects. He further noted that, between "2015-2018", the international exchange program under the Erasmus+ project provided exchange opportunities for more than 3,000 students and employees who traveled between EU and Jordan for training or educational purposes.
Abu-El-Haija added that YU is a leading institution in Tempus projects since its beginning in Jordan in 2002 with a total of 12 projects, noting that the first Tempus project coordinated by Jordan was applied by YU.
He further stated that Erasmus and Tempus programs helped Jordanian higher education institutions to cooperate with 29 of the 34 countries participating in the program, 9 Arab countries, in addition to Iran and Russia. Such connections helped Jordanian public and private institutions to collaborate with each other, linking academic institutes with nearly 30 ministries, non-governmental organizations and institutions, and enabling thousands of employees and students to travel between Jordan and Europe, which provided a suitable environment for cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the peoples of Jordan and Europe. The program also contributed to the development of Jordanian professors' competences in different areas, and helped Jordanian institutes to develop curricula for BA and MA levels.
The project manager, Dr. Mwaffaq Otoom, said that the meeting aims at creating a roadmap for the activities of the BITTCOIN-JO project, which is expected to offer new opportunities for Jordanian researchers, businessmen and industry, adding that the program supports innovations and emerging companies, based on the growing need to invest talented youth in Jordan
Otoom also noted that researchers and academics develop their research outputs into new products and services, pointing out that patents, publishing and marketing of these products, as well as cooperating with the industrial sector have become an urgent need for higher education institutions in Jordan, pointing out the BITTCOIN-JO project is an important step toward achieving these goals.
Otoom further said that the project will contribute to building a new model for technology transfer activities in Jordan through a series of training and capacity-building activities that will be implemented by the Project's Working Group, who will identify the challenges that technology transfer activities and models face to reach the process of research marketing.
Otoom also pointed out that the main product of the BITTCOIN-JO project will be the establishment of sustainable technology transfer offices at Jordanian universities, which are expected to work with the faculty members and students to market their projects, and patents to establish emerging companies
Otoom then reviewed the opening ceremony's events, which included a lecture on technology transfer by Frank Ohland, the CEO of the professional start company in Germany, a discussion on EU-funded projects results and the challenges they face when carrying them out as INVENT and TEJ projects, a discussion on establishing an effective technology transfer model in Jordan, and a lecture on financial management of Erasmus+ projects by Dr. Ahmad Abu-El-Haija, the director of the Erasmus+ office in Jordan.
The second day will include a meeting for the project partners to discuss financial and technical frameworks and the best implementation practices and will agree on the workplan, results and indicators. The event was attended by Vice president Dr. Fawwaz Al-Abed Al-Haq, Dr. Ahmad Al-Ajlouni, and a number of deans, faculty members and university officials.
The Faculty of Information Technology and Computer Science at YU represented by the dean of the faculty Prof. Samer Samara organized a lecture on E-Learning Programs that was given by Dr. Jeff Bordes and Dr. Maja Zelihic of Astria Learning from the USA.
At the beginning of the lecture, Bordes stated that Astria Learning is concerned with providing online educational needs to help educational institutions that offer e-learning programs achieve education quality and competitiveness. He added that they have already cooperated with 231 educational institutions in more than nine countries, and that Astria is working on examining the customers' needs and developing strategies to help them achieve their institutional goals, particularly with the increased focus on non-traditional programs, such as technical and training certificates, as well as online non-profit programs.
Bordes stressed Astria’s keenness to collaborate with YU to offer online programs and courses to help Yarmouk enter the diversified e-learning world with minimum requirements, through marketing, registration, curricula and courses development, and student support and evaluation.
Samara confirmed that YU have sought to activate e-learning programs in line with its plans to establish a specialized center to keep up with technological developments in various fields, noting to the possibility of cooperating with Astria Learning in e-learning programs and courses’ management, which helps develop the educational process and enrich students cultural and scientific outcomes through the use of modern teaching methods.
At the end of the lecture, which was attended by the director of the Computer and Information Center, and faculty members, Dr. Bordes answered questions and inquiries from the audience.
The president of YU, Dr. Zeidan Kafafi, met with Rana Al-Anani, the Senior Program Officer at the Jordanian-American Commission for Educational Exchange (Fulbright- Jordanian Programs). The two sides discussed ways of cooperation, and the possibility of YU receiving faculty members from American universities to teach in its various academic departments for a certain period, the possible grants for YU students to study in American universities, and the academic visits of the faculty members.
During the meeting, Kafafi pointed out that YU was one of the first universities to join the Fulbright program, and a key partner in terms of academic staff exchange and students grants, stressing the need to activate relationships, which contributes to enriching the teaching process at YU and to expertise exchange that have positive impact on students and the university academic status.
The president said that Yarmouk strongly believes in the importance of student’s exchange, and faculty members’ academic visits, that provide them with opportunities to communicate with people from developed countries, refine their personalities, broaden their knowledge, and stimulate their creative thinking, which, in turn, enable them to make desired positive changes and promote the status of our university and national institutions.
For her part, Al-Anani stressed the keenness of Fulbright in Jordan to activate cooperation with Yarmouk, the first in this field, explaining the opportunities that students and faculty members can benefit from by joining the program.
During her visit, Al-Anani gave a lecture on the scholarships they offer to students who wish to study at American universities for the master's degree, as well as educational exchange opportunities available to faculty members who wish to spend their sabbaticals in one of the American universities or teach Arabic to the speakers of other languages.
The meeting was attended by Vice presidents, Dr. Ahmad Al-Ajlouni, and Dr. Fawwaz Al-Abed Al-Haq, and director of public relations and media department, Mr. Mukhles Al-Ibbeni.
The vice president of YU, prof. Anis Khasawneh met a delegation from the Erasmus+ office that included Dr. Ammar Al-Maaytah, expert of international relations, and several officials. During the meeting, the two sides discussed how YU can benefit from Erasmus+ projects. The meeting was attended by the director of the Department of International Relations and Projects, Dr. Mwaffaq Al-Otoom.
At the beginning of the meeting, prof. Khasawneh confirmed the importance of enhancing scientific research as well as faculty staff participation in various kinds of international projects, particularly the ones supported by the European Union like Erasmus+ in terms of students exchange or developing higher education, adding that such projects have positive impact on researchers as well as students.
Khasawneh also stressed the keenness of YU, represented by the department of international relations, to enhance international relations with different international academic institutions and to encourage YU academic staff and students to benefit from such programs. He also stressed the importance of cooperation among researchers from various Jordanian universities in coordination with the ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Planning to get fund for scientific projects through Erasmus+, which embodies the principle of partnership among them and enhances their chances for achieving internationalization.
For his part, Al-Maaytah encouraged researchers from different Jordanian universities to apply for the Erasmus+ Fund, pointing out that the budget for the years 2010-2017 is doubled due to the importance of the projects that have been applied since 2014. These projects, he added, benefited both the EU countries and the Arab countries, particularly the Mediterranean countries, and provided good opportunities for Jordanian universities to build global partnerships and enhance their chances for internationalization.
During their visit, the members of the delegation gave a lecture on the Erasmus+ program for education, training and sport for the period 2014-2010.The program provides good opportunities for MA, and PhD students as well as the teaching staff in higher education institutions around the world. In the lecture, Al-Maaytah reviewed the programs and the projects that Erasmus+ is carrying out in Jordan, such as the mobility and exchange program, institutional competences building projects, and virtual exchange program.
Al-Maaytah further explained that the virtual exchange program provides opportunities for young people to connect in safe online facilitated dialogue to discuss current issues that matter to them, develop a better understanding of each other, build meaningful relationships across borders and cultures, and practice important employability skills.
The preparation of scientific competencies in various fields of knowledge, and the production of innovative scientific research aims to serve society by providing exemplary education in an intellectually stimulating university environment.
