Overview
Launched in October 2005, the Palestinian Faculty Development Program (PFDP) aims to increase capacity within the higher education sector in the West Bank and Gaza and address long-term issues of reform in teaching and learning practices. The program is funded by USAID and the Open Society Institute (OSI) and administered by AMIDEAST and OSI.
The following is a description of program components within the PFDP:
Short-Term Fellowships: Fellows will spend 3-5 months at a U.S. university pursuing an innovative non-degree faculty exchange program designed to encourage the pursuit of academic careers, generate new approaches to curricular and pedagogical reform and/or provide scholarly research opportunities. It is expected that participants will engage in two separate spring semester visits. Part-time and full-time faculty from Palestinian universities and colleges teaching in one of 17 social science and humanities fields are eligible.
Seminars at the Central European University (CEU): AMIDEAST has partnered with the CEU to offer Palestinian faculty working in senior administrative roles short term – three to four day – professional development opportunities. The CEU is a United States registered and accredited institution located in Hungary. This spring and summer the CEU provided four seminars in Budapest for senior academic administrators on Institutional Self-Study, New Issues in University Management, Integrated Student Services, Enhancement of Teaching and Learning and Fundraising. AMIDEAST is offering another series of training workshops in Budapest this year.
Faculty Grants: The PFDP awarded its first round of faculty grants up to $25,000 each to support the scholarship and best practices of teaching and learning within Palestinian universities and colleges. The next round of grant applications will be this winter.
Collaborative Projects in Teaching (CPT): The goals of CPT Projects are to develop scholarly and innovative undergraduate teaching and critical rethinking on a specific subject within the social sciences and humanities. CPT Projects will involve a collaborative structure fostering peer exchange and learning among local and international faculty who will first come together for a Summer Institute in 2008 in the West Bank. The first two CPT projects have been chosen. One addresses peer observation in teaching and the second addresses special needs education.
Teaching Excellence Awards: The awards are designed to spotlight the importance of teaching in higher education, inspire teachers within academia, and recognize success. Individual awards of up to $2,000 will be given to faculty for outstanding achievement in teaching. Eligible individuals include junior and senior, full- and part-time faculty currently teaching at a university or college in the West Bank and Gaza.
Academic Colloquia: The third in a series of Academic Colloquia took place on July 23-25, 2009 in Nablus. An objective of the conference has been to provide a local framework for exploring excellent teaching and scholarship across disciplines. The colloquia also provides a forum for academic faculty in the West Bank and Gaza to network, exchange ideas, and present research.
Seminar for Excellence in Teaching (SET): SET is a two-part, 80-hour certificate program that exposes faculty to a variety of teaching approaches and key issues associated with course design. The goal is to encourage an understanding of the university teacher as a professional scholar ready to engage in teaching that is informed by research and discussion of models of good practice. SET helps faculty cope with the increasing demands for professionalism within Palestinian higher education.
Faculty Development Series: AMIDEAST has organized a series of workshops, seminars or lectures in 2008 with the aim of bringing faculty together to discuss and debate trends or issues in higher education. These events provide a forum for communication, faculty networking and professional development, as well as spotlight visiting international scholars and/or local expertise.
Successes
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PFDP is a successful GDA-like model (public / private partnership) whereby the Open Society Institute (The Soros Foundation) and USAID co-fund the program, and provide joint oversight of all its activities.
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The PFDP has managed to leverage additional resources from the Central European University in Budapest to train 20 – 25 Palestinian university administrators every year. All costs pertaining to the training in Budapest are covered by CEU.
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The PFDP currently has 31 Palestinian faculty pursuing their PhD degrees at sixteen US universities. The first two PhD alumni returned to Palestine and are doing consultancy work for the World Bank and other International Organizations operating in Gaza.
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A neighboring country is considering using PFDP as a model for reforming its higher education institutions.
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The Minister of Education and Higher Education has praised PFDP on several occasions, most recently in her inaugural speech of the Third Annual Colloquium on Higher Education in Palestine, which took place at An Najah University on 23 and 24 July. The Colloquium is the only event of its kind organized annually by PFDP/AMIDEAST to discuss pertinent issues in Palestinian higher education.
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