Help for Palestinian Higher Education
	Palestinian Higher Education has received a $15 million grant from the Saudi Committee for the Relief of Palestinian People.

A UNESCO programme providing support to UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura calls the grant “a very good example of international solidarity as well as a demonstration of South-South cooperation.” The programme will provide financial support to 11 Palestinian universities and give scholarships to 20,000 students. The grant will also be used to assist the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education in creating a single Financial Assistance Management System that unifies all forms of student assistance, such as grants from UNESCO and loans from the World Bank. The first step in this capacity-building activity was a two-day workshop (31 January-1 February) devoted to the issue of Student Household Income Assessment in Palestine. “Palestinian territories are facing considerable obstacles to social development due to various political factors, increasing poverty and massive unemployment,” says Matsuura. “This is why investing in education is critical.” Despite these challenges, Palestinians have already made great strides. The rate of enrolment in Palestinian universities has more than tripled between 1995 and 2003. A total of 136,000 students were enrolled in 2003 in 11 universities, four university colleges and 24 community and technical colleges. This represents an enrolment rate of 25 per cent, higher that the average of 15 per cent in the Arab region. Contact: Bechir Lamine, UNESCO Ramallah E-mail: b.lamine@unesco.org