1. Water and Environmental Studies Institute (WESI)
An Najah National University

2. Evaluation of Focus Groups Attitudes and
Perspectives Towards Palestinian Environmental
Higher Education Programs
By:
Prof. Dr. Marwan Haddad
and Dr Salah Yasin
Water and Environmental Studies Institute (WESI)
An Najah National University

3. This Outcome is Part of EU – TEMPUS IV Project
Project Partners are:
Project Coordinator

4. Introduction
 Data showed that the population of the Palestinian
Territory is young;
 the percentage of individuals in the age group (0-14)
was 41.9% of the total population in the Palestinian
Territory mid year 2009,
 The elderly population aged (65 years and over ) was
3.0% of the total population in Palestinian Territory in
mid year 2009 (PCBS 2010-a).

5. )1Higher Education System in Palestine (
The education system in the Palestinian Territory at one point was
and is affected by the prolonged Israeli military occupation of
the Palestinian land and resources
and on the other hand it is affected by general factors facing third
world countries such as
 poor socio-economic conditions,
 lack and/or poor institutional arrangements, and
 poor technical and human capacities.

6. )2Higher Education System in Palestine (
The university education in Palestine consists of:
 2 years of education for a diploma
 4 years of a college education to obtain a bachelor’s
degree and additional
 2 years for a master’s degree
 3 years for PhD’s degrees.

7. Type of Institution Location
West Bank Gaza Total
Open Education (16)* (7)* 1
Traditional Universities 8 5 13
University Colleges 10 5 15
Community Colleges 14 6 20
Total 32 16 49
Distribution of Palestinian Higher Education
Institutions by Location and Type

8. )3Higher Education System in Palestine (
 The number of students enrolled for bachelor degree in the
Palestinian traditional universities in 2009/2010, was
107925 students of which 61139 or 56.6% are females
 The number of students enrolled in graduate studies was
6234 of which 2668 or 42.8% are females.
 Gross male enrollment ratio for higher education was
44.5% (MOEHE 2010).

9. )1Environmental Higher Education System in Palestine (
in the West Bank, there are three higher education
institutions that offers master programs in water and
environmental engineering and sciences:
 Birzeit University through Institute of
Environmental and Water Studies,
 Al-Quds University through the department of
Applied Earth and Environmental Sciences and
 An-Najah National University through Water and
Environmental Studies Institute.

10. )2Environmental Higher Education System in Palestine (
All of the three organizations and in addition to their
environmental MSc programs are offering:
 training courses,
 carrying out researches and
 serving the local society in Palestine.

11. )3Environmental Higher Education System in Palestine (
 All of the three organizations work and plan activities
without coordination and/or integration between each
other.
 Few cooperative activities exist such as this project

12. In comparing the master programs offered by the three institutes, the
following points were observed:
The three institutes use the American credit hour education system
with total of thirty six hours of which 30 credit hours course work
and six credit hours were reserved for the thesis.
The system at the three institutes allows students to follow either the
thesis or none-thesis track.
The three institutes require that the applicants to the five program to
have a B.Sc degree (in the major under consideration) with a
minimum of good GPA.
The requirements in compulsory and elective courses for the various
programs differ in number and content
The core courses for some programs do not reflect the title of the
program.
It is difficult to link the compulsory and elective courses of each
program of the five programs in one ILO grid.

13. The Need for Reform
 Demand for higher education has increased significantly
in the past decades with students enrolled in higher
education institutions more than tripling between 1995
and 2006 and increased about 50% from 2006 until
present

14. The Need for Reform
 Environmental higher education system in Palestine was
not upgraded or reformed since its inception during early
nineties.
 It is necessary to review the system at all levels and to
develop a reform strategic plan to support the
environmental higher education system to satisfy all
societal levels and to meet the requirements and needs of
future development including industries, students,
teachers, public sectors ...etc.

15. Research Methodology
A combination of quantitative and qualitative data analysis
method to investigate activities of interest and to provide
additional layers of triangulation to validate findings was
adopted in this study.
A stratified sample for both the quantitative (questionnaire
survey) and qualitative methods (open discussion workshops) is
comprised of four focus groupings:
1. Students enrolled in the Master’s program on
Environmental Studies.
2. Teaching Staff,
3. Stakeholders,
4. Alumni of the Master’s Program of Environmental Studies

16. Target
Group
Domain 1 Domain 2 Domain 3 Domain 4 Domain 5 Domain 6 Domain7
Teaching
Staff
Incentives
to teach in
an
environmen
tal
postgraduat
e program
Relevance
of the
environmen
tal higher
education
program
Lecturer
Feedback
Sufficiency
of tools
used, skills
and
capabilities
developed
Adoption
and practice
of
extracurricu
lar activities
Adoption
and practice
of the
principle of
collective
participatio
n and team
Students
Enrolled in
the Master
Program on
Environment
al Studies
Students’
views on
environmen
tal issues
and
problems
Quality and
Relevance
of the
environmen
tal higher
education
program
Quality and
Relevance
of teaching
staff and
administrati
ve support
Teaching
tools used,
skills
developed
and team
working
practiced.
Extra
curriculum
activities
Stakeholders Views on
environmen
tal issues
and
problems
The
environmen
tal higher
education
program
Organizatio
n’s
Expectation
s
Sufficiency
of tools
used, skills
and
capabilities
developed
Lecturer’s
quality and
commitment
Adoption
and practice
of
extracurricu
lar activities
Adoption
and practice
of
participatio
n and team
working
Alumni of the
Master
Program of
Environment
al Studies
Students’
views on
environmen
tal issues
and
problems
Quality and
Relevance
of the
environmen
tal higher
education
Quality and
Relevance
of teaching
staff and
administrati
ve support
Teaching
tools used,
skills
developed
and team
working
Extra
curriculum
activities
Field Survey Domains

17. Qualitative Workshops
 Coordinated by a panel of experts
 Open discussion on all related aspects including
identified domains

18. )1Results and Discussion (
University Alumni Enrolled
Students
Stakeholder
s
Teachers Total
No. %
Berzeit University 17 53 1 6 77 47.0
Al-Quds University 9 18 3 8 38 23.2
An-Najah National
University
12 27 4 6 49 29.9
Grand Total, No.
%
38 98 8 20 164 100.1
23.2 59.8 4.9 12.2 100.1
Sample Distribution by University and Target Group

19. )1Results and Discussion (
Students enrolled in the Master’s program on
Environmental Studies
Student’s Responses Show that:
 Students would like to learn and know more about
environmental issues and accordingly contribute their
abilities.
 They are non-decisive on the quality and relevance of the
environmental higher education program
 There are high lack of extracurricular activities offered in
the program
 There are weak acceptance and/or approval of the quality
of teaching tools used, skills developed and teamwork
practiced.

20. )2Results and Discussion (
Alumni of the Master’s Program of Environmental Studies
Alumni’s Responses Show that:
 It was observed that alumni differ from enrolled students in their
views by having higher sharpness or decisiveness in their
responses.
 a neutral view was observed on all questions related to the
quality and relevance of the environmental higher education
program, a result which indicates very little trust in the quality
and relevance of the program.
 Teaching staff was helpful and friendly.
 High lack of extracurricular activities.
 Weak teaching tools used, skills developed and team working
practiced

21. )3Results and Discussion (
Teaching Staff
Teaching Staff’s Responses Show that:
 They disagree on the relevance of the environmental higher
education program
 the program, the process, the research, and interaction
with students were mostly in the neutral range with a
tendency to agree – Weak Trust
 There are high sufficiency of tools used, skills and
capabilities developed
 Weak adoption and practice of extracurricular activities
 High adoption and practice of the principle of collective
participation and teamwork

22. )4Results and Discussion (
Stakeholders
Stakeholder’s Responses Show that:
 strong stakeholders support to and positive attitude towards
environmental issues and problems faced.
 Diverse views on the relevance of the environmental higher education
program
 Agree on the clarity of program learning objectives and compliance
with international standards
 Agree on the sufficiency of tools used, skills and capabilities developed
 Agree on lecturer quality and commitment
 Diverse views on the adoption and practice of extracurricular activities
 Diverse views on the adoption and practice of participation.

23. Key Barriers to ReformsSix key barriers to environmental higher education
system reform were identified by this research:
1. Environmental experts are not involved in the reform
and development process
2. Program Quality and Relevance is Poor
3. Teaching Tools, Skills, and Capacities are Poor
4. Public and Private Sector Support is Poor
5. Communication and Teamwork Between the Various
Groupings are Weak
6. Multidisciplinary Nature of Students

24. Concluding Remarks
 All groupings agree on the poor relevance/little trust in
existing programs and the high need for its reform
 There was six key – comprehensive and holistic in nature -
barriers found to reforming environmental higher
education programs in Palestine
 The description of these barriers indicates the job is not
simple and encourages the need for a more holistic
approach to reforming the environmental higher education
system in Palestine.