Scholarships
The scholarships are advertised in Al-Quds and other Palestinian newspapers and on the Trust's website at the beginning of January each year. Normally, the closing date for applications is 28 February. They are open to outstanding graduates of all Palestinian universities.
Starting in 1984 (initially it was called the Durham Birzeit Studentship Fund), the Trust has brought students from the West Bank and Gaza to study in a wide variety of academic departments, including Archaeology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Durham Business School, Economics, Engineering, English, Mathematics, Modern Languages, Physics and Social Work.
Funding
Durham University contributes significantly by offering tuition fee scholarships to successful candidates. Funds necessary to cover the students' maintenance, travel and other costs are raised by voluntary donations from individuals, mainly current and retired staff of the University and other people in the Durham area, and through fundraising events.
In 2021, the Trust was endowed by a bequest from Bryan Fortescue, known as Paul Fortescue. The bequest established a permanent endowment called the Pauline Trust from which only the income on the capital may be expended. The total value of the bequest as of 2021 was £1,859,561.74.
Postgraduate education, graduate education, or grad school, refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree.
Part III of the Mathematical Tripos is a one-year master's-level taught course in mathematics offered at the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge. It is regarded as one of the most difficult and intensive mathematics courses in the world. Roughly one third of the students take the course as a fourth year of mathematical study at Cambridge after Parts IA, IB, and II of the Mathematical Tripos, whilst the remaining two thirds take the course as a one-year course.
Birzeit University is a public university in the West Bank, in the State of Palestine, registered by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs as charitable organization. It is accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and located in Birzeit, West Bank, near Ramallah. Established in 1924 as an Elementary School for girls, Birzeit became a University in 1975.
An-Najah National University is a Palestinian non-governmental public university governed by a board of trustees. It is located in Nablus, in the northern West Bank. The university has 22,000 students and 300 professors in 19 faculties. It is the largest university in the State of Palestine.
Beshara Doumani is a Palestinian-American academic currently serving as the president of Birzeit University. Prior to that, he was the Mahmoud Darwish Professor of Palestinian Studies at Brown University. His research focuses on groups, places, and time periods marginalized by mainstream scholarship on the early modern and modern Middle East. He is also a public intellectual who writes on the topics of displacement, academic freedom, politics of knowledge production, and the Palestinian condition.
Education in the State of Palestine refers to the educational system in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which is administered by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education. Enrollment rates amongst Palestinians are relatively high by regional and global standards. According to a youth survey in 2003, 60% between the ages 10–24 indicated that education was their first priority. Youth literacy rate is 98.2%, while the national literacy rate is 91.1%. Enrollment ratios for higher education were 46.2% in 2007, among the highest in the world. In 2016 Hanan Al Hroub was awarded the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize for her work in teaching children how to cope with violence.
Ibrahim Abu-Lughod was a Palestinian academic, characterised by Edward Said as "Palestine's foremost academic and intellectual" and by Rashid Khalidi as one of the first Arab-American scholars to have a really serious effect on the way the Middle East is portrayed in political science and in America". His student Deborah J. Gerner wrote that he "took on the challenge of interpreting U.S. politics and society for the Palestinian community as well as eloquently articulating Palestinian aspirations to the rest of the world."
Al-Quds Open University is an independent, distance education public university in Palestine. It was created by a decree issued by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1991.
Palestine Technical University - Kadoorie (Formerly known as Tulkarm Community College)is an agricultural college located in Tulkarm, in the northern West Bank. The college was inaugurated in 1930 after the British Government had received a bequest from the Iraqi-born Jewish philanthropist Sir Ellis Kadoorie. The college was named in his honour and still bears his name.
Ali Jarbawi is the former Minister of Planning and Administrative Development and the former Minister of Higher Education of the Government of the Palestinian National Authority.
Lisa Taraki is an Afghan-born Palestinian journalist, teacher and sociologist. She is an associate professor of sociology at Birzeit University in the West Bank and former Dean of its graduate students. She is the co-founder of the university's Institute of Women's Studies and founding Director of the doctoral program in social sciences. Taraki is also the co-founder of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a campaign that spearheaded the BDS movement and advocates for academic and cultural boycotts of Israel until it stops what they see as violations of the Palestinians' human rights. She has also served as the director of the board of trustees for Al Haq.
Hanan Daoud Mikhael Ashrawi is a Palestinian politician, legislator, activist, and scholar who served as a member of the Leadership Committee and as an official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process, beginning with the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991. In 1996, Ashrawi was appointed as the Palestinian Authority Minister of Higher Education and Research. Prior to that, she was dean of the Faculty of Arts at Birzeit University and head of its Legal Aid Committee since the mid-1970s.
Mohammad Ibrahim Shtayyeh is a Palestinian politician, academic, and economist who became Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority in March 2019.
Mazin Butros Qumsiyeh is a Palestinian scientist and author, founder and director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History (PMNH) and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) at Bethlehem University where he teaches. After serving on the faculties of the University of Tennessee (1989–1993), Duke University (1993–1999), and Yale University (1999–2005), he now researches and teaches at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities since 2008. Here Qumsiyeh joined with other professors to introduce the first Biotechnology Masters program in the region. Over the course of his career he has published well over 150 scientific papers on topics ranging from cultural heritage to biodiversity in addition to several books. He also serves on the board of a number of Palestinian youth and service organizations such as Al-Rowwad Children Theater and Siraj Center.
Tarek Omar Abdul Fattah Aggad is a Saudi businessman. He is the executive director of the Aggad Investment Company (AICO) and chairman of Arab Palestinian Investment Company, two firms founded by his father, Omar Aggad.
Omar A. Aggad was a Saudi Palestinian businessman, the founder of Aggad Investment Company (AICO), and the founder and former chairman of Arab Palestinian Investment Company (APIC).
Hasan Abu-Libdeh is a Palestinian statistician and politician, who founded the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 1993. He served in the Palestinian National Authority as Minister of Labour, Social Affairs, and National Economy.
Valerie Patricia Myerscough was a British mathematician and astrophysicist remembered for her precocious talent and great contributions to a range of astrophysical applications, as well as to the evolution of the Royal Astronomical Society, in a very short life.
Sanaa AlSarghali is the first Palestinian woman to hold a PhD in constitutional law in the State of Palestine, a Palestinian researcher in the field of law and constitution, a professor of constitutional law at the College of Law at An-Najah National University, and founder and director of the Center for Constitutional Studies at An-Najah University. She holds the UNESCO Chair for Democracy, Human Rights and Peace. she is the 9th member in the Palestinian Constitution Drafting Committee, where she was appointed by the legislative arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
