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The Vice President of Yarmouk University for Academic Affairs, Professor Mousa Rababah, met with Leticia Barb, the plenipotentiary director of the French Institute at the French Embassy in Amman, accompanied by Loris Vivarelli, Charge d'Affairs for French Language and Francophonie at the French Embassy, to discuss ways of cooperation between the two sides. Rababah stressed Yarmouk University’s interest in strengthening its cooperation with the French Cultural Institute, which may reflect positively on the educational process in the field of the French language. He also pointed out that Yarmouk offers language packages, including French, for various university students so that they can compete in the labor market and complete their graduate studies in various countries. Moreover, he emphasized that the Language Center at Yarmouk University serves as a gateway for Yarmouk University to all countries of the world, as it hosts many students of different nationalities, calling on the French Cultural Institute to cooperate with the Language Center and support its executive procedures aiming at accrediting the Language Center at Yarmouk University as an accredited center for holding French language exams (DELF). He also suggested that the cooperation may involve sending a number of fellow lecturers to teach the French language and its various skills in the Modern Languages Department.
In return, Barb praised the distinguished scientific reputation of Yarmouk University and its Language Center, noting that Yarmouk University’s offering of language packages is considered a pioneering step towards developing students’ abilities and skills in using international languages, including French. She then affirmed the French Cultural Institute's endeavor to cooperate with the Language Center in order to carry out all necessary executive procedures of accrediting the Language Center as an accredited center for holding French language exams, which shall make it easier for students and people to take the DELF exam.
The President of Yarmouk University, Professor Islam Massad, discussed with the Director of Education Programs at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Cameron Mirza, ways to enhance existing cooperation between the University and USAID. Massad stressed the keenness of Yarmouk, represented by its Faculty of Educational Sciences, to harness all its efforts and energies to implement the early education project (ASAS) supported by USAID, which aims at establishing an undergraduate program in early education, developing the level of quality in early education programs, and supporting the University’s insistence to provide its graduates with the knowledge and skills required to engage in the educational labor market inside and outside Jordan. Massad stated that Yarmouk is considered one of the distinguished university environments in Jordan and is capable of embracing and making this project a success, as evident in its successful implementation of the Higher Diploma Program for Teacher Preparation. He then called for expanding the horizon of cooperation between the United States Agency for International Development and Yarmouk through providing scholarships for distinguished students in the majors of classroom teacher and early education, which can ensure the sustainability of the programs implemented in cooperation between the two sides.
In return, Mirza affirmed USAID’s belief in Yarmouk University’s ability to implement and make the (ASAS) project a success, acknowledging the University’s distinguished academic cadres and their interest in developing their skills and knowledge in the different fields of knowledge. He then stressed the agency’s readiness to cooperate with Yarmouk in various fields with the aim of achieving sustainable development in different majors like early education programs. Moreover, he expressed the organization’s readiness to support the Faculty of Educational Sciences in the procedures of obtaining the CAP certificate in the educational field. Then he explained that the (ASAS) project seeks to improve the level of education and qualification of students in kindergarten programs and classroom teachers for the first three grades, a goal that can be achieved through providing university students with the various educational, practical, and academic skills that ensure their involvement in the field of educational work efficiently and competently.
The meeting was attended by the Dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, Dr. Ahmed Al-Sharifin, and Dr. Saeb Khasawneh, Director of Pre-Service Teacher Education Programs at IREX.
The President of Yarmouk University, Professor Islam Massad, met with a delegation from the Academy of Strategic and Defense Studies in the Sultanate of Oman, which included Brigadier General Khaled bin Amer Al-Salti, Colonel Joey Saeed bin Ali Al-Habsi, and the representative of Sultan Qaboos University at the Academy, Dr. Samer Al-Kindi. During the meeting, discussions focused on possible means of cooperation between the two sides in the academic and research fields. At the beginning of the meeting, Massad stressed the depth of the historical relations between Jordan and the Sultanate of Oman in various cultural, academic, and economic fields, emphasizing the involvement of Yarmouk University in many academic and scientific cooperation relations with Omani universities and faculties. He then pointed to Yarmouk’s constant endeavor to develop its programs and restructure its study plans to keep pace with recent developments in various fields of knowledge. Massad also pointed out Yarmouk’s readiness to cooperate with the Academy of Strategic and Defense Studies in the Sultanate of Oman and support it to benefit as much as possible from the expertise and experiences of Yarmouk University in the field of organizing academic policies and systems, which should reflect positively on the Academy.
In return, the members of the delegation praised the distinguished reputation of Yarmouk University at the level of the Arab world, which made it a destination of cooperation for various Arab institutions and universities, pointing out the Academy’s interest in benefiting from the University’s experience and expertise. They also explained that the Academy is keen to conduct multi-dimensional strategic studies that embody the integration between various overlapping fields of knowledge, which can enable it to achieve its goals and be an intellectual center that addresses various development issues at the regional level.
The meeting was attended by the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Mousa Rababah, the Vice President for Planning, Development Affairs, Scientific Research, and Quality Affairs, Dr. Samer Samarah, the Director of the Sustainable Development Center, Dr. Abdel Baset Athamna, the Director of the Computer and Information Center, Dr. Mohammad Al-Zamil, and the Director of the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Center, Dr. Iyad Mustafa, and the Director of Public Relations and Media, Dr. Nawzat Abu Al-Asal.
On behalf of the President of Yarmouk University, the Director of the Language Center, Dr. Rana Qandil, sponsored the awareness training workshop organized by the Center in cooperation with the West Irbid Civil Defense Directorate, for international students studying in the program of teaching Arabic to speakers of other languages, on first aid and public safety. The workshop supervised by Dr. Rejan Obaidat from the Center covered topics related to first aid, emergency rescue, evacuation in the event of earthquakes, and extinguishing fires.
During the training, Agent Haneen Al-Jarrah provided a detailed explanation in Arabic and English about the procedures necessary to open the airway in cases of suffocation when it is blocked due to swallowing the tongue, food entering the bronchi, or swallowing a weird body. She also presented the mechanism for dealing with different cases including adults, children, pregnant women, and obese people.
The workshop also discussed how to perform artificial respiration and cardiac resuscitation in a number of cases, such as drowning cases. It also included practical applications of various ambulance cases performed on dolls for adults and children. In addition, an explanatory presentation was provided for all cases using a set of videos. The workshop also included evacuation operations, as Sergeant Ahmed Bani Yassin trained the students on how to conduct evacuation in the event of earthquakes or fires, in addition to providing a detailed explanation of the parts of a fire extinguisher and how to use them to put out a fire from its beginning.
Finally, students got involved in certain exercises of how to extinguish fires, and a set of awareness leaflets and guides for dealing with emergency situations in terms of preparedness and prevention were distributed.
The Vice President of Yarmouk University for Planning, Development Affairs, Scientific Research, and Quality Affairs, Professor Samer Samarah, met with a delegation that included members of the universities participating in the REACH Project, which is concerned with addressing learning difficulties for children, especially those with disabilities, among Syrian refugees, considering that the Project is implemented by the University represented by the Refugees, Displaced Persons, and Forced Migration Studies Center, the Canadian Simon Fraser University, and Kazakh University of Atyrau.
Samarah stressed that Yarmouk, based on its societal responsibility towards refugees, implemented, through the Refugees, Displaced Persons, and Forced Migration Studies Center, many studies that address refugee issues including various educational, health, and social aspects, which formed a resource for researchers and decision-makers in the field of refugee affairs. The University, he explained, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, provides the opportunity for refugees to study in its various majors at a reduced cost. He then praised the effective cooperation between the Refugee Center, Simon Fraser University of Canada, and the University of Atyrau of Kazakhstan represented by implementing the REACH project in its various stages, which has a positive impact in developing the skills of refugee children who suffer from learning difficulties and those with disabilities, thus enabling them to engage in their communities and carry out their tasks properly.
In return, the members of the delegation praised the important and pivotal role played by the Refugees, Displaced Persons, and Forced Migration Studies Center in implementing the stages of the REACH Project to achieve the desired results and develop the capabilities of refugee children who suffer from learning difficulties and make them able to face educational challenges at various stages. They also stressed their universities' keenness to develop ways of cooperation with Yarmouk University in various fields due to Yarmouk’s excellence and proven competence in the research and academic fields.
During their visit to the University, the members of the delegation met with the staff of the Refugees, Displaced Persons, and Forced Migration Studies Center and the director of the first phase of the project, Dr. Reem Al-Kharouf, where the delegation listened to a detailed explanation from the director of the center, Dr. Ruba Al-Akash, about the Center and its role in implementing the project, and its keenness to share its expertise with partner universities in the REACH Project.
Under the patronage of Professor Mohammad Anagreh, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, the Department of English Language and Literature organized a lecture delivered by Professor Hanadi Al-Samman, University of Virginia, USA. Al-Samman talked about the heritage of Arab women writers and feminist scholarship while deviating from previous literary theories that defined the experience of authorship for Western male writers as dialectic, Oedipal interactions with predecessors, “anxiety of influence”, and “anxiety of authorship”. She explained that Arab women writers experience their authorship as an anxiety of a double erasure, both literary and physical. This is evident, she said, not only in the frame story of A Thousand and One Nights, but also in the female’s physical eradication exemplified in Wa’d al-banat’s (female infant burial), jahiliyya practice.
Al-Samman stated that all past scholarship on Arab women’s writings has employed Shahrazad’s trope, once the work moved from the oral to the written version, as either a model to emulate or to veer away from. Simultaneously, she remarked the existence of al-maw’udah as another significant cultural trope in Arab women’s oeuvre. This trope has not only manifested itself in the works of writers who hail from Muslim backgrounds, but also Christian ones. Thus, she said that it is necessary to address the writers’ attempts to combat both the literary erasure of women’s writings signified in Shahrazad’s trope and the physical erasure of women’s bodies and traces found in the resurrection of Wa’d cultural motif. Coupling these two motifs in what is called “the anxiety of erasure” in Arab women’s poetics has the advantage of tracing the wounds enacted by literary and physical traumas in a way that transforms the present and illuminates the future. Just as diasporic women authors transform Shahrazad’s corpus from orality to the written word, so in their work the surviving female body enables the physical, sexual, and symbolic resurrection of Al-mau’udah.
At the end of her talk, introduced by Dr. Abdullah Dagamseh, Head of the Department of English Language and Literature, and attended by the faculty and students of the Department and the Faculty of Arts, Professor Hanadi answered the questions raised by the audience.
The Language Center at Yarmouk University, in cooperation with the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, organized a training activity on preparing popular Jordanian foods and sweets for students of the Arabic Language for Speakers of Other Languages Program. The President of the University, Professor Islam Massad, stressed the importance of such extracurricular and cultural activities organized by the Language Center for its international students with the aim of introducing them to popular Jordanian cuisine and disseminating it in the world. He then indicated that such activities come in the context of the University’s interest in developing and cultivating the personality of its incoming students in the various programs and faculties. He added, while meeting with students and sharing a meal with them, that such activities enhance the integration of students into the Jordanian society, which enhances human communication among students and prepare them to function as ambassadors for the Kingdom as well as Yarmouk University across the world.
In the same context, the Director of the Center, Dr. Rana Qandil, indicated that this activity comes within the context of periodic cultural, recreational, sports and tourism activities, which the Center organizes for its students of the Arabic Language Program for non-native speakers, pointing to the Center’s efforts emanating from the vision of the Jordanian State and Yarmouk University in spreading the Arabic language and its culture.
Interestingly, the Center’s students prepared food in the University’s central kitchen under the supervision of professors and chefs from the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, with the participation of students from the Department of Hotel Management, under the supervision of Dr. Rejan Obaidat and Maysoon Al-Waqfi from the Arabic Language for Speakers of Other Languages Program.
The activity was attended by the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Professor Mousa Rababah, the Assistant President of the University, Dr. Rami Malkawi, the Dean of the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Professor Akram Rawashdeh, and a number of members of the teaching and administrative staff at the Center and the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels.
Yarmouk University hosted the activities of the introductory day for the Erasmus+ Program, which aims at presenting the opportunities for cooperation between various institutions concerned with education, training, and youth in the northern region. The gathering was organized by the National Erasmus+ Office in cooperation with the Department of International Relations and Projects at the University. The President of the University, Professor Islam Massad, delivered a speech during the opening of the activities, where he welcomed the participants to Yarmouk pointing out that the University has sixteen faculties that offer one hundred and fifty-eight programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels including about forty thousand students among whom outstand five thousand male and female students from forty-five Arab and international countries. Massad then stressed the importance of the Erasmus+ Program and the extent of its positive impact on students and members of the teaching and administrative staff at the cognitive level as well as their awareness, openness, and familiarity with different cultures and environments. He also called on those in charge of the national Erasmus Program to keep encouraging students in Jordanian universities to increase their awareness and knowledge of the opportunities offered for them by the Erasmus+ program.
In return, the Director of the Education Program at the European Union Delegation to Jordan, Ines Alves, delivered a speech in which she referred to the distinguished academic and research level of Yarmouk University as noted last October by the European Union Ambassador, Pierre-Christophe Chatzisavas, during his visit to the University. Alves pointed out that the year 2022 witnessed a distinguished cooperation between the European Union and Jordan and that the priorities adopted then frame the cooperation of the two sides until 2027. She also stressed that the Erasmus+ Program is the leading Program of the European Union in higher education, vocational training, and youth. She then explained that the Program addresses individual needs and the needs and capabilities of organizations as well, which potentially contributes to social and economic development of Jordan and enhances the quality and importance of higher education and vocational education and training.
The director of the National Erasmus+ Office in Jordan, Dr. Ahmed Abu Al-Haijah, explained that the Erasmus+ Program includes three main activities targeting individuals (professors, administrators, and students), educational institutions, civil society organizations, and higher education systems. Listing the types of countries participating in Erasmus+ programs, including those that fund the program, he explained that the program Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE) is one of the main programs of Erasmus+ and is concerned with higher education, youth, education and vocational training. The objectives of (CBHE) focus on the needs of the partner countries in the Project, align with the priorities of those countries to maximize the benefits such countries obtain from the Project. Finally, he explained how to join the program and the steps and conditions that must be followed to write and submit a project proposal to ensure obtaining funding.
The introductory day also included discussing topics of cooperation between organizations and institutions, capacity building projects for young people and workers in higher education and vocational and technical training, Erasmus-Mundus activities, in addition to Academic Mobility Program and John Monnet Program in the field of higher education.
Yarmouk University has made significant progress in its ranking in the Times Higher Education Ranking of Arab Universities 2023, as it got ranked third at the local level and 46th at the Arab level, thus being advanced 15 places from its last year category of (61-70) at the Arab level. The University President, Professor Islam Massad, said that this significant progress in Yarmouk University’s ranking in various international classifications reflects the University’s real distinction in various research and educational fields and the extent of its openness to the world. He then pointed out that Yarmouk, with the efforts of its academic and administrative cadre, is seeking further progress and that it will continue to develop and modernize whatever related to the educational and research process by keeping pace with global developments in the various fields of knowledge.
