Funded by the European Commission through Erasmus+, the Islamic University of Gaza has recently won four mobility projects with eight European universities, which are Istanbul Technical University, Decil University in Turkey, University of Sapienza in Italy, as well as the James Project, a coalition of five Portuguese universities. The total number of projects thereby that the Islamic university wins this year 2020 reached SEVEN in different countries: in Finland, Turkey, Italy, Austria and Portugal.
The activities of these projects, which will be implemented within (2020-2023), revolve around paving the way for the university students to have international mobility opportunities for studying at one of the partner universities for one semester or one academic year. They also put forward the mobility of the university’s academic staff for teaching or training within a week or two months.
Ms. Walaa Safi, who is the coordinator of the International mobility projects in Islamic university, said that, “Mobility Projects play a key role in broadening the international relations of the Islamic University and supersizing its visibility locally and regionally through the experience of staff and students”. At the level of the university, IUG has approved its capability of development and twinning with state-of-art European academic system taking advantage and transmitting it to promote education. A number of international mobility projects has opened new channels of communication in research, training, teaching, and projects. This coincides with one of the Erasmus+ mobility aims, which is to increase the capacities, attractiveness and international dimension of organizations active in the education, training and youth fields so that they are able to offer activities and programs that better respond to the needs of individuals.
Students who have experienced golden mobility opportunities have seen real impacts on their personalities. Their foreign languages competence are notably enhanced. Their networking skills are developed as they happen to learn and then work in multilingual and multicultural communities. Mobility projects also double their involvement as considerate and active citizens in society and employability.
Since the launch of the Erasmus Plus program in 2015, the Islamic University has participated in more than 45 international mobility projects with several European universities and countries, which have provided more than 120 mobility opportunities for university students and staff.
