Larger Funded Research Initiatives

Palestinian Faculty Development Project

The National Study of Undergraduate Teaching Practices in Palestine identified three key challenges in Palestinian higher education: 1. a reliance on teacher-centered instructional practices.  2. sporadic and unsystematic faculty development. 3. a lack of alignment between learner-centered outcomes and professional development of faculty at the course, academic program and institutional levels.

To address these challenges, the Palestinian Faculty Development Program (PFDP) was initiated as a joint venture between AMIDEAST (America-Mideast Education and Training Services, Inc.), a non-government organization, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Open Society Institute (OSI).

Aims of the program are to increase capacity within the higher education sector in the West Bank and Gaza and address long-term issues of reform in teaching and learning practices.

A key component of the PFDP is establishment of centers for teaching excellence at Palestinian Universities. To achieve this goal, in July 2010, Northwestern University and Portland State University were awarded contracts to work with two Palestinian universities, An-Najah University and Bethlehem University, for a 2-year period to facilitate the development of the centers for teaching excellence.

(USAID/AMIDEAST/Open Society; $200,000 over 2 years).