The President of Yarmouk University, Professor Islam Massad, met with a delegation from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (EFS) Foundation Office in Amman headed by Dr. Sven Schwersensky, the Director of the Foundation's Office in Jordan and Iraq, to discuss possible ways of cooperation between the University and the Foundation. At the beginning of the meeting, Massad stressed that Yarmouk always seeks to prepare graduates empowered with various skills and knowledge that meet the needs of the local, Arab, and international labor market and that it is interested in developing study plans and providing all possible means of support for students in various humanitarian and scientific disciplines. Massad then reviewed the establishment of Yarmouk and the specializations it offers for various academic degrees, pointing out that the University distinguishes itself by offering some unique majors, such as digital arts. He also affirmed the University's willingness to cooperate with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in areas that can contribute to advancing the development process within the University as well as in Irbid community.
In return, Schwerzinsky praised the prestigious scientific reputation of Yarmouk University and the distinguished academic level of its graduates from various disciplines, stressing the Foundation’s readiness to cooperate with Yarmouk University by building bridges of cooperation between Yarmouk and various German educational institutions. The guest then reviewed the establishment of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, one of the oldest political institutions in Germany, pointing out that the Foundation is concerned with strengthening the process of political participation, improving the democratic process, strengthening the work of government institutions, civil society institutions and independent media, and promoting public debate on current issues and challenges experienced by Jordan and the rest of the region concerning the process of political participation among youth, social justice, gender equality, and modern labor market policies.
The President of Yarmouk University, Professor Islam Massad, sponsored the inauguration of the activities of the workshop “Provenanced Coin Finds Versus Rarities – the Importance of Coin Finds for Historical Statistics”, which was organized by Samir Shamma Chair for the History of Numismatics and Islamic Civilization at the University, in cooperation with the Department of Archeology at the Faculty of Archeology and Anthropology, the German University of Tübingen, and the Gerda Henkel Stiftung Foundation in Germany. The inauguration ceremony took place in the presence of the Director General of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, Dr. Fadi Balawi, the Director General of Antiquities and Museums in Syria, Mr. Muhammad Nazeer Awad, the founder of the Islamic Numismatics Research Center at the University of Tübingen, Dr. Lotus Alish, and Dr. Alaeddin Al-Shomari from the Islamic Numismatics Research Center at the University of Tübingen.
At the beginning of his speech, Massad emphasized his pride in the Faculty of Archeology at Yarmouk University, emphasizing that its academic staff has always proven their scientific and research excellence through their distinguished partnerships with researchers and specialists from different countries of the world, as evident in the fact that the Faculty is classified among the top 250 faculties of Archeology in the world. He then pointed out that holding such workshop specialized in numismatics confirms the University's interest in historical studies, numismatics in particular. He also emphasized that a person's love for his homeland and its capabilities, including antiquities and heritage, is considered part of good citizenship, as a person finds himself forced to defend the history of his country's heritage and civilization to ensure its survival, thus enabling future generations to learn about this legacy, stressing the need for archaeologists and anthropologists to cooperate with specialists and researchers from other sciences such as sociology, history, natural sciences, and engineering. Massad also called on the participants in the workshop from different countries to come up with recommendations that are applicable on the ground and have a positive impact on numismatics and the mechanisms for its development.
For his part, Al-Balawi stressed the importance of numismatics and its study, considering that a lot of historical information was corrected based on the study of numismatics, which had a great impact in presenting the most accurate and correct history of different civilizations. He then explained that the Jordanian Department of Antiquities is the authority authorized to protect and develop the cultural heritage of Jordan, in addition to its interest in providing archaeological, heritage and cultural information to the world. Moreover, he mentioned that the process of studying coins is witnessing many developments, as the Department of Antiquities kept pace with such changes through modern scientific and technological studies that helped the Department to obtain more information with less damage and to preserve the distinctive cultural heritage of coins.
Awad said that the importance of this workshop stems from its being held in exceptional circumstances witnessed by the region in the last few years, explaining that the repercussions of difficult conditions in Arab countries greatly affected their cultural heritage. He also pointed out that this important project, which was launched three years ago with the support of the German Gerda Henkel Foundation, contributed to raising awareness of the local community about the importance of coins and the valuable information they represent.
In his turn, Alish stressed the importance of studying coins to understand the history of nations and their civilizations, pointing out that Islamic coins appeared in the 13th century and that it is through such coins we infer the sequence of local rulers, caliphs and princes, as one coin could contain 60 words. He then pointed out that since the beginning of the 20th century, the interest in studying numismatics has increased, noting that through numismatics a lot of historical information has been modified and corrected.
Besides, the holder of Samir Shamma Chair for the History of Numismatics and Islamic Civilization, the Dean of the Faculty of Archeology and Anthropology, Dr. Lamia Khoury, delivered a speech in which she indicated the importance of the study of ancient coins not only for specialists in this field but also for amateurs and collectors of coins and ancient coins around the world. She then explained the importance of ancient coins saying that it is through them we can understand many aspects of ancient civilizations including the political and economic conditions of societies as well as the important events for which such coins were made.
During the opening activities, Dr. Alaeddin Al-Shomari from the Islamic Numismatics Research Center at the University of Tübingen in Germany, Dr. Imad Kaddour from the University of Aleppo, Dr. Nashat Kiwan and Dr. Khaldoun Al-Shamaa from the Department of Antiquities of As-Suwayda gave a presentation on the individual finds of Islamic numismatics and others revealing the findings of a scientific research project conducted by a Syrian-German team on recording the finds and exploring their importance as a historical source. The speakers demonstrated the importance of the project represented by discovering the value of the individual finds of coins and understanding the method of studying Islamic coins that does not depend on the scarcity of the coin but on its historical importance, pointing out that the main project was implemented between 2017-2019.
The Jordanian Journal of Chemistry issued by the Deanship of Scientific Research and Graduate Studies at Yarmouk University successfully fulfilled the requirements for indexing in Scopus for scientific publication. This achievement, which resulted from the University’s international aspirations and plans, makes the JordanianJournal of Chemistry the fourth YU Jordanian journal included in Scopus, considering that the Jordanian Journal of Physics, the Jordanian Journal of Mathematics and Statistics, and the Jordanian Journal of Modern Languages and Literature are already included in that database.
Noteworthy here is that the Jordanian Journal of Chemistry is a scientific, international, refereed, and specialized journal that is supported by the Scientific Research and Innovation Support Fund. Its editorial board is chaired by Professor Ayman Hammouda from the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Science – Yarmouk University, and it includes a group of chemistry professors from various Jordanian universities. Besides, the journal has an international advisory board from different countries across the world. Thus, the Scopus database indexes Yarmouk University as an institute with impact factor within the Clarivate Analytics databases as follows:
- TheJordanian Journal of Physics: 0.7
- The Jordanian Journal of Mathematics and Statistics: 0.3
- The Jordanian Journal of Modern Languages and Literature: 0.2
Yarmouk University is proud for having one of its graduates named as the winner of the third place in the Highway Safety Information System (HSIS) Student Research Paper Competition 2023. The Yarmouk graduate Hamza Bani Khalaf, who is serving now as MA graduate research assistant in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cleveland State University, has been awarded the third place in the competition for his paper entitled: “Using Probabilistic Reasoning Approach on Road Familiarity, Distracted Driving, At-fault, and Crash Injury Severity in Work Zone Crashes”. This project studies work zone crashes aiming at developing a Bayesian Networks model – a model for reasoning “what-if” questions – to explore the relationship between drivers’ roadway familiarity, distracted driving, at fault, and crash severity at work zones. Thus, it highlights that BN reveals the probability of a work zone crash involving a distracted familiar driver increased by 9.84 percent and decreased by 21.93 percent for the unfamiliar drivers to be distracted. Familiar drivers had 0.66 percent higher probability of being at-fault in work zone crashes while unfamiliar drivers had 1.48 percent lower probability of being at-fault. The results produced by BN indicate that adverse weather increased the probability of injury severity in work zones crashes by 22.67 percent. However, the approach put forth in this study may serve as a valuable tool for decision making and enable evidence-based recommendations for improving work zone safety.
Upon receiving the award, Hamza said, "I am deeply committed to work as hard as possible to prevent crashes on roads worldwide through the HSIS data, which has proven to be an invaluable resource for providing researchers with abundant information necessary to investigate work zone safety”. He adds, “winning the third place has sparked a deep sense of inspiration, thus motivating me to keep working to set greater future goals. I would also like to express my deep appreciation to my supervisor, Professor Kidando, for his invaluable support and guidance throughout this endeavor.”
As part of the activities of Youth Summer 2023, the Faculty of Mass Communication at Yarmouk University and the Center for the Protection and Freedom of Journalists organized a specialized training session entitled "Youth and Digital Content Industry on Community Issues", which is part of "Ebtakker” (Innovate) project supported by the Czech Embassy in Amman. The session took place in the presence of the Czech Deputy Ambassador Silvia Balosova, the Dean of the Faculty of Mass Communication, Dr. Tahseen Mansour, and the Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Mohammad Al-Thiyabat.
Mansour emphasized that this training session is invaluable for its contribution to presenting societal events and issues, such as unemployment, violence against women and children. He then mentioned that the session aims at developing the skills of 30 male and female students from the three departments of the Faculty: journalism and digital media, radio and television, and public relations and advertising, expressing the Faculty’s confidence that this diverse gathering of young people will contribute greatly to enriching discussions and activating collective learning, which should enable the next generation of journalists to face challenges in societal issues. Mansour also called on participating students to take advantage of the vocabulary of the session and reflect this knowledge and experience to develop societies, enhance awareness, create constructive dialogues about untold stories, and shed light on the challenges facing society.
For her part, the Czech Deputy Ambassador expressed her happiness and pride that the Czech Embassy has a role in preparing the new generation of Jordanian youth to be builders of a promising future through their creative and pioneering ideas praising the youth’s role in developing their societies and fighting the challenges they face in various ways. Nidal Mansour from the Center for the Protection and Freedom of Journalists stressed the need for students to show passion and love for journalism in order to be creative in the field. Nidal then pointed to the importance of providing students with the skills that can ensure their involvement in the local and Arab labor market upon their graduation, stressing that the differences in achievement between workers in this field appear through the skills they possess and their ability to develop themselves and keep pace with changes and developments.
The session, which was supervised by the trainer Majd Mansour and the assistant trainer Islam Al-Batoush, included a series of activities dealing with several topics namely, "the Concept of Community Issues and the Role of Technology in Defending It", "Definition of Community Issues and the Role of Youth in Change", and "Viewing a group of societal issues".
The President of Yarmouk University, Professor Islam Massad, met with a delegation from Auburn University headed by the Assistant Provost Office of International Programs, Dr. Andrew Gillespie, to discuss ways of cooperation between the two sides in the various scientific and academic fields. During the meeting, Massad stressed Yarmouk’s keenness to strengthen cooperation with various universities and leading international education institutions, including Auburn University with which Yarmouk has been cooperating for years. He then expressed his hope to expand the areas of cooperation and to activate that cooperation in the field of exchanging scientific visits between students and faculty members in various fields of common interest. Massad pointed out that Yarmouk, as one of the leading national institutions, is keen to play its role in translating the directives of His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein concerning the empowerment of youth and preparing them to keep pace with the different developments and international standards.
In return, Gillespie praised the distinguished scientific reputation of Yarmouk University pointing to the possibility of enhancing cooperation between the two universities in a number of areas of common interest. He then reviewed the establishment of Auburn University and its Faculties naming the scientific specializations they offer for various academic degrees.
After the meeting, which was attended by the vice-presidents of Yarmouk, the director of the Department of International Relations and Projects at the University, and a number of Auburn University students, the delegation toured the University campus and visited the Refugees, Displaced Persons and Forced Migration Studies Center, the Jordanian Heritage Museum, the Faculty of Sharia and Islamic Studies, and Al-Hussein Bin Talal Library.
Yarmouk University, through Princess Basma Center for Jordanian Women's Studies, signed three memorandums of understanding with a number of national associations and institutions, which aim at implementing refereed research studies and a number of training programs and awareness activities that can serve students, women, and members of the local community in general. The President of the University, Professor Islam Massad, signed these memorandums with the President of the Family and Childhood Protection Association, Kazem Al-Kafiri, the Director of the Office of the International Plan Association in Jordan, Hamida Jahameh, and the representative of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Amira Khamis, respectively.
The first memo is signed between the University and the Family and Childhood Protection Association, and it stipulates establishing specialized field training courses and programs to develop the capacities of students and members of the local community concerning economic and social empowerment in the local community at the level of the University’s regulations and instructions. It also demands encouraging youth to implement voluntary and educational initiatives to serve the community in various environmental, health, economic, and social activities.
The second memo is signed between the University and the International Plan Association, "Plan International", and it stipulates implementing the "Ready for Tomorrow" project, which targets the University students who are in the third- and fourth-year levels and have the desire and interest in entrepreneurship and business issues. Noteworthy is that this project targets young men and women looking for job opportunities, and it aims at improving the life conditions for people in their 20-35 years old. Also, it aims at following up the implementation of entrepreneurial initiatives and referrals with the target group of the project.
The third memo is signed between the University and the Lutheran World Federation Charitable Union, and it encourages setting up specialized training courses and programs to enhance the capacities of the Federation members and those of the local community in terms of the economic and social empowerment of the local community according to the regulations and instructions of the University. Besides, the memo aims at encouraging young people to implement voluntary youth initiatives and educational services to the community in various environmental, health, economic, and social activities. It also involves cooperation between the two parties to benefit from the academic expertise of Princess Basma Center for Jordanian Women's Studies to design joint proposals for development projects and submitting them to supporting authorities.
The President of the University, Professor Islam Massad, praised the importance of such memorandums of understanding in expressing the University's mission and reflecting its role and responsibility towards the society. He also acknowledged the great mission of Princess Basma Center for Jordanian Women's Studies represented by contributing to the society’s prosperity characterized by diversity, democracy, and respect for human rights. Massad also celebrated the mission undertaken by the Center in terms of conducting scientific studies and providing advisory services and training programs to enhance the capabilities of Jordanian women and prepare them leadership positions and responsibilities. Finally, Massad pointed to the course titled, “Ethics and Volunteer Work” offered by the University starting from the academic year 2022/2023, which aims at strengthening students’ ethics and refining their personality to enable them implement the University’s vision and mission and contribute to volunteer work and its initiatives on and off- campus.
The Refugees, Displaced Persons and Forced Migration Studies Center at Yarmouk University, in partnership with the Jordanian Office of the World University Service Association in Canada, organized the activities of the two-day summer club in the educational laboratory "Edu Box", which is a joint project of Yarmouk University and the Dutch University of Twente.
The activities of this summer club aim at helping Jordanian and refugee students to create their distinguished creative projects by providing the necessary space, the Internet and smart tablets, and an environment that supports creativity and stimulates innovation in various fields. These events also aim at providing students with the necessary skills and experience to develop their abilities in the fields of artificial intelligence, conversational skills in English, communication skills, CV writing, handicrafts, and promotion of environmental awareness towards a sustainable future.
However, the training of this summer club was conducted by the Director of the Center, Dr. Reem Al-Kharouf, in addition to a number of Canadian volunteer professors at the Center in coordination with the World University Service Association in Canada / Jordan Office: Dr. Hussein Al-Zughair, Dr. Ammar Al-Shalabi, and Fouad Barazi.
Al-Zughair expressed his thanks to Yarmouk University for contributing to the preparation of the training project, which motivates university students of different nationalities to participate in the implementation of training workshops in various fields that are in line with students' desires and orientations. In the same context, Al-Kharouf said that, based on the University's vision and in implementation of the strategic goal of the Center's plan related to awareness and community service, and to increase students' knowledge of refugee issues (Jordanians and refugees) and raise their entrepreneurial competencies, the University sponsors holding the first summer club, which seeks to direct students to invest their time in issues that increase their expertise and qualify them to compete in the labor market.
Al-Maaytah: “Our vision is to stimulate the energies of students and guide their talents towards leadership and creativity”.
Massad: “Our goal is to provide space for students to express themselves and participate positively”.
Thiabat: “We want this summer to be distinguished with its activities”.
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Yarmouk University, Dr. Ruwaida Al-Maaytah, sponsored the ceremony of launching the Youth Summer 2023 activities in its second season, in the presence of the University President, Professor Islam Massad, and a great number of students from different faculties. In her opening speech, Al-Maaytah said that our view at Yarmouk University is not restricted to classrooms or the acquisition of theoretical knowledge, but to empower students in the various political, economic, social, and cultural fields. The University, she added, works to stimulate students’ energies, develop their talents, and empower their leadership and creativity skills. She then explained that the University's vision is based on empowering youth, transforming their ideas into development projects, registering patents, and making them aware of the need to think outside the traditional framework and seize the opportunities available to them.
In his turn, Massad said that organizing the Youth Summer at Yarmouk University is the implantation of a decision made by the University’s Council of Deans in its meeting at the ancient city of Umm Qais last Spring. Such a decision, he stated, shows that Yarmouk University is trying to be a beacon and role model for Jordanian universities in fulfilling the vision of His Majesty the King and His trustworthy Crown Prince concerning youth and their invaluable role in developing the country and building its future. He continued: “We have to provide the means to young people to innovate and create whatever necessary for the property of Jordan and future generations. He then explained that Yarmouk University attempts to make the summer semester an exceptional session for students, as the activities of Youth Summer include teaching lectures in the classrooms, a series of events and activities emphasizing the vision of political, economic, and administrative modernization, and the development of the public sector.
The Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Muhammad Thiabat, said that the second edition of the Youth Summer will be distinguished in its various activities and fields relying on the University’s vision of supporting its students. He added that the role of the deanship of Student Affairs concerning this festival involves implementing and organizing the different activities practiced by and for students.
However, the opening ceremony started with an introductory video showing Yarmouk’s Youth Summer in its first season and students' aspirations for 2023 Summer. Besides, the ceremony included success stories presented by some Yarmouk graduates like Mr. Moath Al-Radaida, and Miss Lilac Marji, graduates of the Faculty of Mass Communication, who talked about their university experience and the skills they acquired at Yarmouk. The ceremony also witnessed the participation of the artist, Zuhair Al-Nubani, who urged students to engage in extracurricular activities and acquire important knowledge that builds and refines their personality. Moreover, it included a theatrical performance by the University Theater Group at the Deanship of Student Affairs, a performance that dealt with the idea of inviting students and encouraging them to engage in partisan and political work. Also, it included a national artistic performance presented by the Deanship of Student Affairs Choir. Noteworthy here is that the launch ceremony of the Youth Summer activities was preceded by an exhibition of plastic art and murals as well as a musical performance by a group of students from the Faculty of Fine Arts.
The preparation of scientific competencies in various fields of knowledge, and the production of innovative scientific research aims to serve society by providing exemplary education in an intellectually stimulating university environment.
