“
It is about
self-discovery
and developing
capacities.
Mirvat Bulbul
The third year of the program will highlight the
development and implementation of student initiatives
that stem from the students’ outlook on Palestinian
national contexts and community priorities through two
stations focused on community entrepreneurship.
Planning for the Future with Masari
The Masari Program:
Engaging Students from Day One
F
ocused on developing university students as active
citizens and forward-looking leaders, Birzeit
University inaugurated, with the beginning of the fall
semester of the 2017-2018 academic year, the “Student
Leadership and Active Citizenship Program-Masari.”
The program was launched to bolster the university’s
role in developing a renewed vision for learning, and to
encourage new students to plan their lives and engage in
their surroundings from the first day they step foot on the
university’s campus.
The program, which will continue on to the second
learning station in the spring semester, was launched to
bolster the university’s role in developing a renewed vision
for learning, and to encourage new students to plan their
lives and engage in their surroundings from the first day
Masari Learning
Stations
34
Al Ghadeer - Fall 2018
they step foot on the university’s campus.
Participating students take part through a co-curricular
activity that complements their classes at the university.
Masari began with first-year students accepted for the
academic year 2017-2018. The program accompanies them
in the first three years of their college careers through
six creative learning stations, one station per academic
semester.
In its first year, the program focuses on self-exploration,
self-discovery, self-awareness, and self-management
through the Personal Competencies and Career Path
stations. In the second year, it emphasizes “the other
and the community” (active citizenship skills such as
diversity, empathy, and sharing) through the Debating and
Citizenship stations.
Personal Competencies
Career Path
Building upon Birzeit University’s belief that tomorrow’s
leaders are today’s students, the Student Leadership
and Active Citizenship Program - Masari is an innovative
companion program that encourages university students to
be active citizens and forward-looking leaders.
Through the program, the university’s different
faculties, centers, and institutions all work hand-in-hand
to provide students with a learning experience that creates
an environment for entrepreneurship and innovation
and engages students in the process of developing their
communities. The program comprises six different learning
stations offered through three-hour bi-weekly sessions of
community-based activities.
The second year of the program, for example, focuses
on enabling students to recognize others and reach out
to the community. The third and last year includes two
“stations” that focus on developing and implementing
student initiatives that are tailored to the Palestinian
context and national priorities.
Director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Unit
George Yerousis said that the program will be expanded
over a period of three years to reach the entire student
population, and will incorporate curricular and co-
curricular components.
Students, according to Yerousis, will receive accredited
certificates that showcase their accomplishment in the
program. Community service hours will also be counted.
The program, conducted by the Innovation and
Debating
Entrepreneurship Unit at Birzeit University and supported
by the Cairo Amman Bank, encourages BZU faculty and
staff to further advance their professional capacities.
“Last summer, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Unit offered an extensive Training of Trainers for our
faculty and staff members. Today, more than 120 in-
house facilitators are able to guide our students’ learning
journeys and guarantee the steady supply of qualified
training,” added Yerousis.
One of the facilitators, Dr. Sa’ed Nimer, a professor
in the Philosophy and Cultural Studies Department,
emphasized the importance of Masari. “Throughout this
program, students will be equipped with essential skill sets
that will bring about meaningful and innovative change in
their communities and distant future moves,” he said.
“The different activities address the gaps that are not
covered by our academic programs, and, in the process,
seek to create a flagship co-curricular student leadership
and civic engagement program that engages students in
a transformative experience and empowers them to take
charge of their own future, and the Palestinian community
in general.”
Facilitator and Administrative Assistant of the
Programming and Registration Section Kholoud Burbar
said that the “advantages of the program go beyond the
students themselves – they include us as staff and faculty
members too. The program will offer all of the skills
needed for students to become successful individuals and
contributing members of the larger community.”
First-year computer science student Omar Bakri said
that he believes the program will help him, as a student,
to synthesize and make sense of what he has learned from
the various curricular and co-curricular experiences. “Now,
I can uncover my own values, chart my own path, and
discover my own purposes.”
Citizenship
Social Entrepreneurship
Birzeit University
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