On 3 July 2013, Birzeit University kicked off the second phase of the Joint Master in Software Engineering project - first of its kind in the Middle East, which comes in response to labor market needs.
The project director Dr. Iyad Tumar said that the Software Engineering project is funded by the European Union "TEMPUS" program in partnership with European universities in Germany, Italy, Greece and Britain, in addition to three Egyptian universities and two Palestinian universities namely Al-Quds University and the Islamic University in Gaza.
The Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Adnan Yahya said: "The existence of a special relationship with academic institutions at home and abroad is a major impetus for work, and the insistence on cooperation between academia and industry is of vital importance to Birzeit University.”
The Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology Dr Ali Jaber explained the importance of the project, which stems out from being the first academic project, which will contribute to the establishment of the first Master program in software engineering at Palestinian universities, and that the project will also contribute to the involvement of various sectors in improving and developing the program.
The representative of "TEMPUS" program in Palestine Dr. Nidal Jayyousi noted that he is very proud to cooperate with Palestinian universities, particularly Birzeit University, which received the bulk of the support compared to other Palestinian universities.
Professor at the Harokopion University of Athens Dr. Pericles Loucopoulos delivered a lecture entitled: "Software Engineering, Economics and Social Impact", in which he addressed the importance of the software sector in societal development.This was followed by a detailed presentation of the software engineering program, and a panel discussion in which a group of experts in information technology companies and a number of academics in Palestinian universities have participated, in addition to the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Safaa' Nasir El-Din.