Birzeit University with Cairo University organized a five-day workshop in Sharm el-Sheikh on the Masters of Science in software engineering. This master’s program is funded by the European Union project, Tempus, which will develop a joint MSc in software engineering over three years.
The meeting was attended by representatives of all participating universities, namely host Birzeit University, Al-Quds University, Islamic University of Palestine, University of Cairo, Egyptian E-Learning University and Helwan University in Egypt.
Four European universities Free University of Bozen - Bolzano of Italy; Harokopion University of Athens, Greece; Middlesex University of the UK; and the University of Koblenz-Landau in Germany will assist the partner Arab universities in developing the MSc Software Engineering program to respond to local market needs. A total of 12 modules in Software Engineering will be developed in those universities, using e-learning in teaching.
The Birzeit University delegation comprised Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology Ali Jaber, professor of computer science Yousef Hassouneh, Department of Computer Systems Engineering chairperson Iyad Thomar, professor of computer science Dirar Alian and professor of computer systems engineering Abu Saud Hanani.
During the workshop, deadlines and mechanisms for the preparation of courses, previously agreed upon, were develop into a detailed plan of action for the coming six months.
Participants also attended a two-day intensive training course on methods and mechanisms for developing e-learning courses by the British expert Professor George Dafoulas.
Through Tempus, Birzeit University is working in partnership with the European, Egyptian and local universities to develop the first MSc program in Software Engineering in the Middle East.
Tempus is a European Union program that supports the development of higher education in partner countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Western Balkans and the Mediterranean region, mainly through university cooperation projects.