Fobzu Palestine-UK PALS workshop 2024
Fobzu Palestine-UK Academic Links Seminar (PALS) Fellowships are designed to address the urgent need to build educational links and promote mutual understanding between UK and Palestinian faculty.
This year, we adapted our programme to urgently respond to the ongoing war on Gaza, which has devastated to Gaza’s higher education sector. Originally designed to take place both in the UK and Palestine, travel restrictions and safety concerns necessitated shifting our programme to London, allowing UK academics in the UK meet and hear from visiting Palestinian colleagues and online.
This year following one-to-one introductory meetings, Fobzu PALS Fellows participated in a two-day programme, including a full day workshop and attending Fobzu’s annual Overcoming Barriers, Building Links Conference and panel event at the Frontline Club. Over the course of the in-person programme, the PALS Fellows who come from 11 universities across the UK were informed about the broader historical context of the current war and attacks on education while also hearing directly from representatives of Gaza universities about their urgent priority needs. Fellows were linked with Palestinian colleagues with the focus of the programme dedicated to discussing how to establish partnerships capable of supporting universities in Palestine.
PALS Fellow and UNESCO Chair in Inclusive, Good Quality Education and Global Chair in Education at the University of Bristol, Professor Leon Tikly described how the impact of the PALS Programme this year:
Scholarly presentations on the history of the Palestinian people and education in Palestine provided a necessary background for understanding the current contexts of genocide and scholasticide. The input from representatives of the Emergency Committee of Universities of Gaza set out a clear set of priorities for the international community in supporting Gazan HEIs through scholarship programmes aimed at stabilising enrolments and research collaborations that can assist in sustaining HEIs as they struggle for their very survival. The overall message was one of hope.
