Al-Quds University - Overview

Overview

The idea of establishing an institution of higher learning in the outskirts of Jerusalem was conceived early in 1957, when a Board of Trustees was formed in Kuwait. The Board elected an Executive Committee entrusted with bringing this grand project into being. Committee members included:

-Abdul Aziz Hussein -Al-Haj Yusuf Al-Fuleij -Zuhair Al-Karmi -Yakoub Al-Hamad -Abdul Rahman Al-Awadi -Said Breik -Sheikh Sabah A. Al-Jaber

The Committee entrusted Rouhi al-Khatib, the Mayor of East Jerusalem, with the task of assisting the Executive Committee in its endeavors and to initiate construction work, which actually began in 1965. Work on the site was interrupted by the outbreak of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Nevertheless, a sizable section of the buildings on the campus was completed later and utilized as a primary and secondary school, servicing basically Palestinian orphans. In October 1979, the College of Science was established, but was forced to close down by Israeli military order, and was reopened in October 1981, as a College of Science and Technology.

Its founding constituent colleges included the colleges of Science and Technology, Paramedical Sciences, Arts and Religious Studies. Its School of Medicine, associated with the city's Maqasid hospital, was the first college to be founded directly under the banner of Al-Quds in 1993, and is the first Palestinian medical school. Al-Quds is governed by a Board of Trustees. The founding board was headed by Mohammed Nusseibeh and included Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Ikrema Sabri, Adnan al-Husayni, Saeb Erekat, and others as members. The first president, Hatem Husseini was followed by the current acting president, Sari Nusseibeh.

• Faculty of Science & Technology

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• Faculty of Science & Technology and SKITCE

• Faculty of Science & Technology

The University, the only Arab University in Jerusalem, provides higher education and community services within the Jerusalem area and to the neighboring towns, villages and refugee camps in the West Bank.

It has ten academic faculties on four campuses: Arts, Science and Technology, Medicine, Dentistry, Public Health, Law, Qur'an and Islamic Studies, Health Professions, Engineering, and Jurisprudence. These faculties accommodate more than six thousand students from the Jerusalem area and from the districts of Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Jericho, Nablus, Ramallah, Tulkarem, and Qalqilia. The university continues to deliver educational services and engage students in positive learning experiences, so that they may envision and hope for a better future. The University maintains two Jerusalem campuses and administrative offices in the American Colony and in Beit Hanina, though since the Second Intifada many classes have been moved to other campuses in Abu Dis. Other campuses operate in al-Bireh next to Ramallah and Tubas.

The university faces a major, unprecedented financial and operational crisis brought about by the dire economic and social situation presently prevailing in the area. Steady subsidies are not available, and the university is unable to charge its students full tuition fees commensurate with real costs. Recent contributions from Arab governments alleviated the crisis somewhat, enabling the university to pay a portion of the salaries of its 723 support staff employees and faculty members. This temporary, one-time assistance made it possible to restart the present academic year.