‘Al-Quds Open’ concludes the project ‘Enhancing Access to Cross-Border Employment in Palestinian Higher Education Institutions – REACH’

Al-Quds Open University concluded under the patronage of its President, A. Dr.. Samir Al-Najdi, 'Enhancing Access to Cross-Border Employment in Palestinian Higher Education Institutions - REACH' project, funded by the 'Erasmus+' program, and organized by the university's Center for Continuing Education and Community Service, on Monday 9/25/2023 at the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. . This project comes with the participation of nine universities (five Palestinian universities and four in the European Union), led by the Islamic University of Gaza. Launched in November 2019, the project aims to develop the efficiency and performance of graduate units in PHEIs to create and enhance cross-border employment opportunities. The President of Al-Quds Open, Mr. Dr.. Samir Al-Najdi, in his speech at the celebration, attended by the honorable audience, expressing his happiness with the outcomes of this project, and said, 'The university is making continuous efforts to develop and enhance higher education in Palestine and serve our society. It also seeks to provide high-quality education to all young men and women wherever they are, and to enable them to achieve their dreams.' And their professional aspirations,' adding: 'We realize the importance of access to decent job and employment opportunities for our graduates, and for this reason we are working hard to implement many projects, including this project, which seeks to achieve a strategic goal that aims to qualify and empower graduates with the specialized and professional skills necessary to provide real opportunities for graduates of Palestinian universities.' Entering the cross-border labor market, achieving professional successes, and building complementary bridges between academic education and self-employment (remotely) to develop competencies and a professional future.' He concluded his speech by saying, "Today's event represents a first step in a journey of a thousand miles in building partnerships with international organizations and ot her educational institutions interested in the field of self-employment across borders to provide the necessary knowledge and tools." For his part, the Director of the Erasmus+ Office in Palestine, Dr. Abdul Karim Daraghmeh, in his speech, said, 'Today, the REACH project has reached its end, and it is considered one of the important projects funded by the Erasmus+ program over four years of effort and effort,' adding that 'this project introduced modern concepts related to employment platforms, It helped Palestinian youth reach the world, which promoted remote work,' explaining that 'universities graduate thousands of students, while the labor market is unable to absorb these numbers, so the role of moral and social responsibility lies in networking with institutions to employ graduates.' . In a speech by the Director of the Center for Continuing Education and Community Service, Dr. Mahmoud Hawamdeh said, 'This project aims to promote cross-border employment through effective and constructive cooperation wi th Palestinian and international universities, and by enhancing the skills and knowledge of graduates through partners.' He touched on one of the project's achievements, which is the remote self-employment center, which is equipped with the necessary tools to qualify and train teaching staff, and then transfer knowledge and skills to 160 male and female students in several fields, including soft skills, engineering skills, and many others. He continued: 'This allowed The center for companies and employers searches for distinguished and highly skilled graduates, in addition to producing dozens of success stories for graduate students, some of whom worked in the accounting departments of many companies.' Hawamdeh added: 'We at the Continuing Education Center are committed to the continuity of the project and the continuity of the management of the center, which is in line with the objectives of Al-Quds Open by training graduates so that they can successfully enter the labor market.' In her speech, she praise d the Director General of the Palestinian Information and Communications Technology Incubator (PICTIA). Amani Muadi, with this project and the remote self-employment center that was established, presented some of the Palestinian labor market data, which is that '45 thousand students graduate annually from various universities, while the available employment opportunities do not exceed 8,000 jobs,' adding: 'So The importance of working on this project lies in establishing the basics of enabling students to acquire high skills, and this is the responsibility of the educational sector and the relevant partner institutions.' She thanked Al-Quds Open University and the partner institutions for the efforts made to reach an achievement on the ground with this project, and addressed a message to the students. By 'putting their weight into developing skills that distinguish them from remote freelance work from other graduates.' As for the student at Al-Quds Open University, Malaa Barakat, she pointed out the importan ce of her joining this project, which expanded her skills and the opportunity to network with institutions, adding: 'Through this project, I was able to be a remote translator in freelance work with many institutions outside the borders of Palestine.' During the ceremony, which included honoring the partner institutions, trainers, and work team, a short video was shown showing some of the success stories of the graduates, including the student Sally Al-Aqraa, who said, 'I have an ambition to reach my own project, so I joined the e-marketing training, where I learned how to formulate a business strategy and other skills.' She added, 'I was lucky to get a job with a company in the Arabian Gulf in the field of digital marketing.' The ceremony included two sessions, the first entitled 'Incubators and Entrepreneurial Companies on the Role of Incubators in Supporting Remote Employment,' and the second session entitled 'Academic Affairs at Al-Quds Open University on the Challenges and Opportunities in Achieving In tegration between Academic Education and Self-Employment (Remotely): Building bridges to develop competencies and professional independence.' Among the most important recommendations that the two sessions concluded were: signing memorandums of understanding to implement a set of activities and information to enhance the involvement of remote work, instilling the initiative spirit for students to explore remote work and understand its details before reaching the point of graduation, including self-employment within courses in universities, and supporting academic research that It is based on self-employment and enhancing students' personal marketing skills Source: Maan News Agency