The United Kingdom will sponsor students in "Palestinian" universities to do postgraduate work in Britain in a program called Higher Education Scholarships for Palestine (HESPAL). The initiative is also intended to work to strengthen ties between British universities and their counterparts in the Palestinian Authority.
The program was launched March 3 and will last at least 4 years.
The venture will fund up to 10 PA Arab university students a year to do a year's postgraduate study in a UK partner university. British participants include London School of Economics, City, Essex, Manchester, Exeter, Kings College London, Newcastle, Oxford Brookes, School of Oriental and African Studies, and Sussex. The students must study in areas related to finance, education, physics, IT, business, chemistry, engineering, agriculture, water management, and law and international development.
A cooperative effort led by the British Council, HESPAL is being sponsored by various foundations and private organizations: The Pears Foundation, an organization promoting Arab rights in Israel and Holocaust education is one of them. The program is also being sponsored by the Arab Palestinian Investment Company.
Sandra Hamrouni, director of British Council Palestine, said she hopes the project will be "for the benefit of the broader relationship between the UK and Palestine.”