1.1 Bethlehem University has a vision of the New Palestine which will be a community with its unique historical experience, rich in culture and heritage, with a tradition of learning and creativity, admirably placed to make a successful way in the Knowledge-based Society of the New Millennium. In this Society in the Information Age the universities have a crucial role to play:

-to support the talents of our people and provide them with opportunities for personal development

-to create employment and advance economic development

-to promote an inclusive knowledge-based society, proud of its heritage, where citizens participate actively in civil society and Government, local and national.

1.2 The founders of Bethlehem University were farsighted and courageous. At a very low moment in the history of Palestine they gave the new University a statement of purpose which today needs new applications more than revision:

In the widest sense, the purpose of Bethlehem University is to serve the people of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a center of learning for the advancement, preservation, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge. The highest aspiration of the University is to imbue the human mind with knowledge in a spirit of understanding, ethical vision, and universally esteemed moral principles.

The basic functions of Bethlehem University are viewed as threefold: teaching, research and service.

1.3 The challenges facing Palestine in the New Millennium are those of opportunity, following a long period of deprivation and oppression; in meeting them a university has a role of knowing, evaluating, adopting and adapting all that can be gained from experience anywhere in the world and piloting potential approaches within a conscious commitment to Palestinian heritage, values and traditions.

Bethlehem University is proud to describe its Vision of Higher Education as in the tradition of classical Arab scholarship of the Eighth to Fourteenth Centuries. That scholarship combined meditation on the universe, with empirical research to deal with immediate needs as well as theoretical problems. The approach to learning was to build on knowledge from everywhere in the world, especially that of Greek scholars. Pioneers, such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Jurjis ibn Bukhtishu, Ibn Sina and Ibn Maymun, laid the foundations of modern natural science and Ibn Khaldun the beginnings of social and political science. Arabic was the language of scholarship in the early middle ages.

1.4 A guiding belief of Bethlehem University is that differences which are respected and honored can be a source of synergy and strength.

While it was founded and is sponsored by the Holy See and exists on Church Property, the University is open to teachers and students of all religions and carefully respects the individual's religious principles. The religious purpose of the University is the laudable one of helping young people to improve their lives. One can trust that years of fruitful study with a variety of dedicated scholars will bring our students to a deeper understanding of their own and their fellow student's individual faiths.

This statement of Bethlehem University's Founders has been an aim to which the University has aspired over its first 25 years. In the hoped-for new era of Palestinian Society the University hopes to develop its Vision of a pluralist respect for values and principles both within the University and in Society.

1.5 The University is actively involved in an international research and education project in Political Culture, Civic Society and Citizenship, (Hassassian, 1997, 1998).

1.6 Partnership with the Community has always been a major objective of Bethlehem University, in the fields of teaching, service and research, inspired by a founding goal:

Because Bethlehem University represents an unusually high concentration of talented people, educational resources and physical facilities which can be an important resource to the people of the immediate vicinity of the University, as well as the surrounding region, the University strives to make these resources available to the people of the area.

1.7 Academic service to Palestinian Society in the form of formal degree programs to prepare professionals to meet identified needs of the community has been a feature of recent academic initiatives. The Continuing Education and Upgrade programs for professionals, which are in a wide variety of fields, appear likely to be an ongoing need in the foreseeable future.

1.8 From its foundation the University's approach has been to identify local needs and opportunities systematically and to plan to meet them as quickly as possible. The University pursues a policy of "Needs Oriented Research" which is very close to the UNESCO concept of "Goal directed research" and fits comfortably with what UNESCO describes when it says "the major targets of research investment for the emerging Palestinian universities in the coming decade should be goal directed projects relating to critical problems of the new Palestinian society" (UNESCO, 1994).

1.9 There has been a Students' Community Service Program since 1983. It is a one-credit course (required for most students) which each year involves 430 students in 40 locations.

1.10 In all its Outreach Programs Bethlehem University pays special attention to the needs of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable members of the Community.

1.11 The challenge of the future is great and the implied demands on Bethlehem University members are daunting. Commitment to the Vision's goals and initiatives will require imaginative and creative thinking to maximize advantages, to reduce disadvantages and to get the greatest possible return for Palestinian Society from limited resources.

2 Major Issues Emerging from Responses and Consultation

2.1 A great deal of emphasis was placed on five central elements of the Role of a University in the New Palestine :

-Teaching, research, involvement with and service to the Local Community

-Developing the Palestinian Human Resource

-Pragmatic meeting of labor force needs and providing needed skills

-A contribution to civil society, democratization, a sense of responsibility and independent thinking and the development of national identity

-Leadership in cultural activities and the provision of a forum for discussion.

2.2 A university has a central role to play in developing human resources and meeting labor force needs, by providing the competence and skills which meet the needs of today and tomorrow in a rapidly changing situation. This role is developing rapidly as we move towards the new Millennium and what has been labeled the "Knowledge-based" or "Information" Society. Bethlehem University is well placed to meet the emerging needs because of its broad approach to education which produces graduates with language skills, numeric competence and information technology skills, mental agility and a creative imagination.

2.3 The University's Social and Cultural Center was seen as a great asset and resource for both the University and the Local Community. The Sabeel Conference (held at the Center in February 1998) indicated its regional and international potential in a wider field.

3 Proposed Initiatives

• Renewed commitment to Bethlehem University's goals and particularly emphasising a strengthening of the partnership with the Community in areas of teaching, research and service.
• Development of a University Institute for Community Partnership and Research.
• Expansion of Continuing Education and Upgrade Programs for professionals to meet identified needs. Exploration of interdisciplinary possibilities in these and in Adult Education, Second Opportunity Education, and a Language Development Center.
• Introduction of a course on Conflict Resolution, Civil Society and Democracy, obligatory for all 3rd Year Students.
• Development of a support system for knowledge-building as a way of life, which is what is required in a "Knowledge-based" or "Information Society".
• Arrangements for ongoing flexible curriculum development, with consideration of a modular degree.
• Introduction of extra-curricular courses and events in cultural, artistic and leisure activities.
• Promotion of events to encourage discussion and debate of political, social and economic issues.
• Extension of campus opening hours and greater access for the Local Community to the University and its facilities.
• Greater openness to student intake and service not confined by local boundaries.