CHINLONE has been designed as a structural capacity-building project aimed at fostering the modernization and internationalization of MM’s HES, currently in the midst of an epochal reform that mirrors the country’s transition towards democracy. With this in mind, the project tailors its main efforts on the needs and exigencies of three key target groups, represented by local academic leaders, professors and educators, as well as administrative staffs, in order to train them with the most prominent features of the European expertise in terms of academic governance, degree courses designing, and IR management. In doing so, the notions and know-how consolidated through their interactions with European partners will be further capitalized and disseminated on the local dimension, by means of cascade trainings and related activities with additional universities and local HEIs. Hence, CHINLONE is expected to produce a lasting legacy in MM well before the end of its timeline, through the inception of innovative and updated curricula in the strategic fields of studies of humanities and cultural heritage, economics and geography of tourism, and agricultural sciences, so to equip local prospective students with the tools and skills currently demanded by the labour market and economic stakeholders. This approach, most notably, can provide a valuable contribution to MM’s evolution towards a ‘knowledge economy’, paving the way for the introduction of new national policies in the sphere of HE on project-specific topics; which, in turn, will lead to the progressive ascendance of local HEIs in regional education rankings, to a steady increase in the overall number of students enrolling in MM’s universities, and to a parallel boost in international mobility flows to and from the country.

The conclusions of the follow-up evaluation of MNE HEIs, conducted by EUA Institutional Evaluation Program in 2018, highlighted significant shortcomings in the field of internationalization. In order to overcome these shortcomings, IESP project aims to enhance international competitiveness and visibility of MNE HEIs, by providing the best model for strengthening capacities for various aspects of internationalization. The project’s activities will result in: developed guidelines for enhancing internationalization; installed IT equipment with software for administration of mobility at IR offices and Language support centres; redesigned English web sites; capacity building of teaching/researchers staff in internationalization strategic planning, internationalization of research and innovation, and improved teaching skills for delivering courses in English; capacity building of administrative staff related to internationalization and improving English skills; developed internationalization strategies with action plans; developed supporting documentation for internationalization; designed catalogues for courses in English; developed summer schools in English; developed teaching materials in English; developed criteria for assessing quality of internationalization; established bodies for monitoring and evaluation of internationalization; established and equipped Language centres for support of internationalization. The project will have positive impact on the international competitiveness and visibility of the MNE HEIs as a result of the developed capacities and implementation of targeted internationalization measures. HEIs will improve their management, decision and policy making, and better respond to the needs and requirements of the society, and will be brought closer to EHEA/ERA through increased international visibility and networking with EU HEIs.

The situation in Palestine is becoming more complicated and severe year after year, a Quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) can lay the foundations for later success in life in terms of education, well-being, employability, and social integration, and is especially important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. High-quality early childhood education and care is therefore an efficient and effective investment in education and training. In order to address these challenges, Palestinian universities, concerned agencies and ministries have agreed to work together and build this proposal upon the indeed aspects to develop the early childcare sector in Palestine following the international and European standards.The project works on accordance with the ECD strategy 2017-2022 and in partnership with MoSD and MOE, and affiliated partner MOHE. The general objective is to Ensure sustainable delivery of Early Childhood services through government’s commitment and strengthened partnership with universities, families and relevant institutions local, regional and international, under the customized EU standards to the Palestinian context, and raise the level of government’s commitment to providing and sustaining comprehensive and inter-sectorial ECEC services. the project outputs will start with CARE road map that reflect the current situation in Palestine regarding the ECEC status. Then develop the ECEC sector addressing 3 level of interventions: first with PHEJs through Building the capacity of the university staff through training, technical support and updating curricula, build the capacity of the ministries staff and the in-service teachers in kindergarten and nurseries through training and a new professional diploma , and finally with local community awareness campaigns and conferences regarding EC.