The president of YU, Dr.  Zeidan Kafafi, met Dr. Stefania Chlouveraui of the University of Athens in Greece, where they discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two sides in various fields of archaeology and anthropology.

During the meeting, Kafai stressed the keenness of YU to open channels of communication and cooperation with various European educational institutions, which contributes to experience exchange and knowledge acquisition for faculty members and students. He added that YU’s administration seeks to encourage faculty members to attract international projects in various fields to enhance the university's rank and scientific research.

Kafafi expressed his pride of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, and its distinguished faculty members, pointing to the need to strengthen cooperation between the two universities considering the many heritage sites in Jordan that need to be studied to understand the history of humanity and preserve our ancient cultural heritage.

Chlouveraui praised the outstanding academic reputation of Yarmouk, particularly in the field of antiquities and conservation of heritage sources, stressing the keenness of the University of Athens to cooperate with YU in terms of faculty members and students’ exchange, conducting joint scientific research and international projects on archaeological sites’ maintenance. She added that the University of Athens is ready to receive two more students from Yarmouk in May to study for a semester of their master's degree, in addition to the three students who are currently there.

The meeting was attended by Dr. Hani Hayajneh, dean of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Dr. Ziad Al Saad from the Dep. of the Conservation and management of Cultural Resources, and Mr. Mukhles Al-Ibbeni, the Director of the Dept. of Public Relations and Media.

Dr. Anis Khassawneh, vice president of YU, sponsored a lecture titled "The Contemporary Refugee Crisis in Canada: An Overview of Psychosocial and Social Challenges". The lecture was given by Dr.
Jehad Hammad, a Sociology professor at The King's University College, and president of Middle East Studies Institute in Canada, and was organized by The Refugees, Displaced Persons and Forced Migration Studies Center at Yarmouk University.

At the beginning of the lecture, Hammad thanked the Refugees, Displaced Persons and Forced Migration Studies Center for their invitation considering the consequences that the countries hosting refugees face, particularly Jordan, whose first experience in receiving refugees in the region has been the strongest despite the economic challenges it goes through. He also pointed out that Jordan has been dealing with asylum issues over the years due to its geographical location, which represents a home for most refugees in the region.

Hammad, then, reviewed the services that the Canadian Government provides to refugees and the procedures followed by the Canadian Asylum program, which provides economic, social and psychological support to refugees for a limited period, provided they sought work that suits them to be productive members of the Canadian society.  He also pointed to the psychological pressures that refugees suffer from before, during and after the asylum process, as well as the social pressures they suffer to integrate with host communities.

At the end of the lecture that was attended by the director of the center, Dr. Ayat Nashwan, deans, faculty members, and a crowd of students, Dr. Hammad answered the audience' questions and inquiries.

The president of YU, Dr. Zeidan Kafafi, met with Rana Al-Anani, the Senior Program Officer at the Jordanian-American Commission for Educational Exchange (Fulbright- Jordanian Programs).  The two sides discussed ways of cooperation, and the possibility of YU receiving faculty members from American universities to teach in its various academic departments for a certain period, the possible grants for YU students to study in American universities, and the academic visits of the faculty members.

During the meeting, Kafafi pointed out that YU was one of the first universities to join the Fulbright program, and a key partner in terms of academic staff exchange and students grants, stressing the need to activate relationships, which contributes to enriching the teaching process at YU and to expertise exchange that have positive impact on students and the university academic status. 

The president said that Yarmouk strongly believes in the importance of student’s exchange, and faculty members’ academic visits, that provide them with opportunities to communicate with people from developed countries, refine their personalities, broaden their knowledge, and stimulate their creative thinking, which, in turn, enable them to make desired positive changes and promote the status of our university and national institutions.

For her part, Al-Anani stressed the keenness of Fulbright in Jordan to activate cooperation with Yarmouk, the first in this field, explaining the opportunities that students and faculty members can benefit from by joining the program.

During her visit, Al-Anani gave a lecture on the scholarships they offer to students who wish to study at American universities for the master's degree, as well as educational exchange opportunities available to faculty members who wish to spend their sabbaticals in one of the American universities or teach Arabic to the speakers of other languages.

The meeting was attended by Vice presidents, Dr. Ahmad Al-Ajlouni, and Dr. Fawwaz Al-Abed Al-Haq, and director of public relations and media department, Mr. Mukhles Al-Ibbeni.

Deputizing for the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, the president of YU Prof. Zeidan Kafafi sponsored the opening ceremony of the BITTCOIN-JO program, which comes under the Erasmus+ program supported by the European Union. The program aims at establishing technology transfer centers in higher education institutions in Jordan, and is implemented by YU in collaboration with twelve academic and industrial partners from Jordan and Europe.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Kafafi said that YU strongly believes in the importance of creating effective relationships between academic and industrial sectors. He stressed the importance of benefiting from European universities’ experiences in the field of technology transfer and applying them in the Jordanian higher education system. Kafai then praised the efforts of the project members for their hard work and dedication to ensure the program's success.

The president also stressed the keenness of YU to graduate qualified, distinguished, and creative youth energies to be active individuals who can make positive changes in their society. He further pointed out that Yarmouk offers training courses and programs to its employees, students and to the members of the local community in various areas, in collaboration with business and industrial institutions as well as non-governmental organizations and other local or international institutions, pointing out that YU have established several incubators for various companies to provide training opportunities for students and to prepare them to enter the job market efficiently and competently.

For his part, Dr. Ahmad Abu-El-Haija, the director of the Erasmus+ office in Jordan, said that the EU-funded Erasmus+ program is a European collaborative program that supports project partnerships, exchange, policy dialogue in education and training, youth and sports, and offers opportunities for higher education institutions, employees and students from all over the world.

Abu-El-Haija further added that the European Union funded 91 collaborative projects in which Jordan participated in the past 15 years: 54 projects within Tempus program and 37 projects within the Erasmus program. Jordan received 16 grants with a share of 38 million euros for implementing the projects. He further noted that, between "2015-2018", the international exchange program under the Erasmus+ project provided exchange opportunities for more than 3,000 students and employees who traveled between EU and Jordan for training or educational purposes.

Abu-El-Haija added that YU is a leading institution in Tempus projects since its beginning in Jordan in 2002 with a total of 12 projects, noting that the first Tempus project coordinated by Jordan was applied by YU.

He further stated that Erasmus and Tempus programs helped Jordanian higher education institutions to cooperate with 29 of the 34 countries participating in the program, 9 Arab countries, in addition to Iran and Russia.  Such connections helped Jordanian public and private institutions to collaborate with each other, linking academic institutes with nearly 30 ministries, non-governmental organizations and institutions, and enabling thousands of employees and students to travel between Jordan and Europe, which provided a suitable environment for cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the peoples of Jordan and Europe. The program also contributed to the development of Jordanian professors' competences in different areas, and helped Jordanian institutes to develop curricula for BA and MA levels. 

The project manager, Dr. Mwaffaq Otoom, said that the meeting aims at creating a roadmap for the activities of the BITTCOIN-JO project, which is expected to offer new opportunities for Jordanian researchers, businessmen and industry, adding that the program supports innovations and emerging companies, based on the growing need to invest talented youth in Jordan

Otoom also noted that researchers and academics develop their research outputs into new products and services, pointing out that patents, publishing and marketing of these products, as well as cooperating with the industrial sector have become an urgent need for higher education institutions in Jordan, pointing out the BITTCOIN-JO project is an important step toward achieving these goals.

Otoom further said that the project will contribute to building a new model for technology transfer activities in Jordan through a series of training and capacity-building activities that will be implemented by the Project's Working Group, who will identify the challenges that technology transfer activities and models face to reach the process of research marketing.

Otoom also pointed out that the main product of the BITTCOIN-JO project will be the establishment of sustainable technology transfer offices at Jordanian universities, which are expected to work with the faculty members and students to market their projects, and patents to establish emerging companies

Otoom then reviewed the opening ceremony's events, which included a lecture on technology transfer by Frank Ohland, the  CEO of the professional start company in Germany, a discussion on EU-funded projects results and the challenges they face when carrying them out as INVENT and TEJ projects, a discussion on establishing an effective technology transfer model in Jordan, and a lecture on financial management of Erasmus+ projects by Dr. Ahmad Abu-El-Haija, the director of the Erasmus+ office in Jordan. 

The second day will include a meeting for the project partners to discuss financial and technical frameworks and the best implementation practices and will agree on the workplan, results and indicators. The event was attended by Vice president Dr. Fawwaz Al-Abed Al-Haq, Dr. Ahmad Al-Ajlouni, and a number of deans, faculty members and university officials.