30 December 2014

The Policy and Criteria for Admission at Palestinian Universities Accessibility to University education

In 1998, the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education set out the criteria for admission to Palestinian Universities and even required Palestinian high school students to consider them when applying for international universities. The same criteria have been used when the ministry recognized any undergraduate or graduate degree issued by non-Palestinian universities.
These criteria are mainly include the average a student gets in the governmental  exam called” The General High School Exam” which is called in Arabic  “Tawjihee”,   and  the stream  s/he was enrolled in in high school(scientific, humanity, commerce…). The Ministry stipulates that a student cannot study or even apply to  any university program if s/he gets less than 65% in the Tawijihee Exam and the universities are not allowed to accept such a student regardless of his/her school marks.  Also, students enrolled in humanity stream cannot study any scientific majors in universities but vice versa is allowed. Students enrolled in scientific stream are allowed to study in any majors. Though, in some years the ministry makes exception to some universities to accept students with less than 65% in some of their majors. In addition, Some Palestinian universities requested from applicants to set for admission test before accepting them into their programs.
Since 1998, these criteria have not been revised nor discussed. This has raised many questions:

•  What are the benefits and or the values of continuing accepting students solely based on the result of the Tawjihee exam only and Are there other criteria to be considered as well besides or instead of Tawjihee?  
• Do these criteria limit the accessibility of students with special needs, marginalized and female to higher education as well?
• Are these criteria sensitive and suitable to the general political situation Palestinians are living under now?
• Is there relationship between the average of Tawjihee exam and the academic level of students in universities?
• In the future, would it be more beneficial to give each university the freedom to develop its own admission criteria rather to continue abiding and following the ministry criteria?
• What are the experiences, historical development and currently followed up criteria of admission in regional and international universities? Is there something to learn from?
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Hebron University (HU) is keen to address these questions in a two day conference where local and international experts will participate. HU is looking forward for a full cooperation with the Palestinian ministry of education and Palestinian Universities. Representatives from Palestinian and international universities are invited to participate in person or via remotely. It is hoped that at the end of the conference the aforementioned questions will be answered and a new criteria for admission were suggested.
 
It is foreseen that all regional and international criteria, policies and procedures will be presented and discussed in the first day then; participants will discuss the Palestinian criteria of admission in the light of the lessons learned from the first day presentation and discussion.
 
The Palestine Ministry of Education in cooperation with (USAID) and Amideast has organized a was on Jan. 16.2014 on "University Admission Criteria in Palestine, Beyond Tawjihee". It was like a brainstorming gathering with two presentations and discussions.  The gathering was short that not enough time given to us discuss the recommendations.
The idea of holding this conference was discussed with The Head of AQAC.
 
Intended outcomes:

• A Proceeding of the conference that includes all presentations and discussions.
• Proposed criteria for admissions.
• Priority of these criteria according to their importance's applicability.
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The conference will be organized in March 25, 2015 in HU campus. Those interested in participating in the conference in person or remotely are required to:

• Send not more than two pages abstract of your paper/research    to the conference’s secretary: Ms. Rasha Hijazi( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by November 15, 2014. Abstract should include clearly
• the title of the paper/ research, short summary of its content, your full name, title, place of work, profession, email address and your home and work telephone numbers.
• Send the full text of the paper/research by February 15, 2015.
• Be willing to actively engaged in the conference’s discussion and groups work.