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Bethlehem University concluded its international conference, which lasted for two days, Thursday and Friday, May 25-26, 2023, and was held under the patronage and participation of the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof. Mahmoud Abu Mois. The conference, which was organized by the Institute for Community Partnership - Bethlehem University, was attended by an international conference entitled “The Current Status and Future Prospects for Learning through Service and Community Participation” in partnership with Uniservitate, the Vice President of Bethlehem University, Brother Peter Bray, and the Executive Vice President of the University, Father Iyad Twal. The conference witnessed an official and popular presence, including Dr. Louay Zaoul, Head of the Public Relations and Media Unit in Bethlehem Governorate, representing the Governor of Bethlehem, Major General Kamel Hamid, Dr. Muhib Abu Louha, Secretary of the Higher Education Council at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and a number of heads of public and civil institutions, professors, administration and students of Bethlehem University. The second day's activities included a number of different sessions and working groups. The first session was presented by Professor Elias Al-Hazin, a lecturer at Bethlehem University and the head of the Community Service Program at the Faculty of Education. Al-Hazin spoke about the history and stages of development of the Community Service Program, which is a mandatory program for all students.

The second session was presented by Suzy Daher, Director of the Department of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy at the Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences at the university, with the participation of Professor Anan Ghobash and Professor Vida Abu Aita from the Department of Occupational Therapy. This session focused on learning programs through community service for occupational therapy in Palestinian society.

The third session was presented by Professors Amal Abu Nijmeh, Bisan Musa, Ataf Maqbool and Naji Abu Ali from the Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences at the university, and their session focused on the impact of community participation in the Faculty of Nursing at Bethlehem University.

After the sessions, the participants were divided into four working groups, supervised by Olha Mikhaylishin from the Catholic University, Dr. Raed Abdul-Masih, Ms. Hanadi Younan, Mr. Ramzi Asali, and Dr. Omar Abd Rabbo, all from Bethlehem University. The working groups’ topics focused on service learning, community engagement, and religious heritage, Bethlehem as a witness to 2000 years of the birth of Christ, his life and message, global citizenship and human rights, in addition to community archaeology, service learning, and community engagement: preserving cultural heritage.

URL: https://www.bethlehem.edu/ar/2023/05/26/service-learning-conf-day2/