As non-profit institutions, public Palestinian colleges depend on external financing to survive. Until recently, donations had come from the European Union and other Arab countries. Due to recent financial crises around the world, these funds have been severely reduced leaving Palestine without the support it needs to maintain its system of higher education.
Colleges have responded to the crisis by taking out loans, raising tuition fees, increasing enrollment, and using staff pensions to pay salaries. The Palestinian Authority also promised to increase government funding by an additional 6 million shekels ($1.6 million) this year. Half of this money will serve as financial aid while the rest will finance research endeavors.
Palestine has 49 colleges that educate approximately 213,000 students yearly in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank. These numbers represent a 26% enrollment rate of young adult which is high when compared to other developing nations and Middle Eastern countries.
Prior to these funding shortages, Palestinian colleges ranked highly when compared to those in other Arab countries. The situation has now changed resulting in a declining quality of education along with rising tuition costs. With education becoming increasingly expensive, many students choose to put their education on hold or dropout altogether. These developments led several university students throughout Palestine to stage protests at the beginning of the school year.
“Just imagine the national loss we would suffer if those students were to leave the country and seek education elsewhere” commented Younis Amr, president of al-Quds Open University.
Higher education institutions were first created in the 1970s under Israeli occupation to provide youth with an opportunity to gain a college education at a time when there were few opportunities to study abroad. Access to higher education benefits not only youth but also the State of Palestine as a whole. By providing education locally, youth can stay in the country and learn skills to support the country’s industries.
“We can’t exonerate Israel. In the final analysis, the decades-old occupation is the mother of all problems…Israel seriously inhibits our growth by adamantly refusing to allow qualified Palestinian professors to come to occupied Palestine to enrich college education” stated Birzeit University’s vice-president Ghassan Khatib.
As of 1993, the Palestinian National Authority took over control of education from the Israeli government. Soon after, in 1998, the Palestinian government issued the Higher Education Law which legally established institutions of higher education and granted all Palestinians the right to access higher education.
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Written by Amanda Lubit