The Rise -and Rise-
of Birzeit University
C
Birzeit
University
kindled
a spirit that
lives on 94
years after
its birth
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Al Ghadeer - Fall 2018
onsider this: as of 2017, Birzeit
University is the top-rated
university among its national
peers, ranked 38 th in the Arab region,
and recently broke into the top 3
percent of universities worldwide. It’s
sprawling, 800-dunam campus holds
25 buildings, including 11 centers
and institutes. Its eight faculties offer
more than 100 undergraduate and
graduate academic programs in which
over 13,000 students are enrolled.
The number of faculty PhD
holders, the awards won each year,
the research papers released, the
hundreds of thousands of books in its
libraries and the millions of dollars in
student aid - the numbers themselves
are a remarkable tribute to Birzeit
University’s achievements. But those
numbers don’t convey the humble
beginnings of what would eventually
become one of the foremost
academic institutions in Palestine.
In 1924, a small house in the
town of Birzeit north of Ramallah
became the Birzeit School for Girls.
The house, generously donated by
Reverend Hanna Nasir, became what
many students called a second home;
that alone must have filled Nabiha
Nasir and Ratibeh Shkair’s hearts with
joy when they founded the school.
Nabiha had asked her grandfather,
Hanna Nasir, if they could establish
the school in his house, but the
wheels of progress didn’t stop there.
A few years later, an additional
boys’ school was built to
accommodate the increase in the
number of students, and in the
year 1942, just a few years shy of
the life-altering event that was the
Palestinian Nakba, the school was
rechristened as “Birzeit College.”
It was the norm at that time to call
a school a “college” – the name
change didn’t denote any altering of
the school structure or methods of
teaching. The real change, however,
came shortly after the Nakba. It was
at that time of loss, destruction, and
forced displacement that the need for
excellent, distinct higher education
was at its greatest, and that was
exactly what Birzeit Junior College
delivered.
The transition to a junior college
would prove to be a difficult
undertaking; a junior college requires
a trained, advanced faculty and
facilities. This requires funding.
Fortunately, Birzeit’s alumni and
family rushed to its aid, (one finds
this recurrent theme throughout the
history of Birzeit).
Gabi Baramki, a Birzeit graduate,
returned home from Lebanon and
began to manage and guide the
fledging junior college in its transition.
Samia Nasir, recently home after
pursuing a Business Administration
degree from the United States, took
on the responsibilities of registrar
and accounting as well as teaching.
Her daughter, Rima, taught music
and languages, and many others
gave everything they had. It was a
concerted effort by those who held
Birzeit in the highest regard and it
paid off well. Students were able to
transfer to universities and colleges
abroad, and the university hammered
out an agreement with the American
University of Beirut (AUB) to ease the
students’ transfer to the university.
If one speaks with Birzeit
graduates or current students, one
of the first things they mention
is the university’s spirit. It is this
undefinable, intangible atmosphere
that permeates the university and
everything that relates to it: its
campus, buildings, lectures, faculty,
students, staff, and everything in
between. It is at this period – the
The real change,
however, came shortly
after the Nakba. It
was at that time of
loss, destruction, and
forced displacement
that the need for
excellent, distinct
higher education was
at its greatest, and
that was exactly what
Birzeit Junior College
delivered.
Birzeit University
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