Agriculture in the Palestinian territories is a mainstay in the economy of both countries. The production of agricultural goods supports the population's sustenance needs and informally employs 90% of the population.On the other side, industrial and/or digital technologies are expanding in global phenomenon with an emphasis on digitalisation, automation, control and robotics in various operations related to soil cultivation management, optimization of crops nutrition, crop tending etc. Automated robotic systems can bring to agriculture flexibility in farmer decision making to select the optimal technological arrangements during the production process of the field crops, which entails not only economic but also the environmental and social aspects.The use of (digital) technologies could allow the agricultural sector to achieve big leaps in Palestine, especially in increasing productivity and introducing the cultivation of new strategic classes of crops. The knowledge about advanced agricultural technologies have therefore become key for the farmers in these regions, throughout the process of cultivation and harvest. Precision agriculture is an innovative concept in the countries of Middle East and especially in Palestine. This is not specifically about the technologies, but about the overall concept putting accent on understanding how the technologies can make the farming more accurate and controlled. The innovative character of the project serves not only the capacity-building aspect for Palestinian HEIs, but also addresses the challenges faced by the EU countries regarding ICT, technological developments, and creating a global research framework for innovation and development regarding the integration of newest (digital) technologies into agriculture and rural development.

Beyond teaching history, science or languages, teachers guide our children… shaping the attitudes, skills, & values they will use in the world beyond the classroom (Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah)Early Childhood Education is considered an important base for life-long learning & whole person development & the most important & most vital of all stages in the proper development of a child whether is in the emotional, behavioral or cognitive domain. Early years of child life are crucial as it is of the utmost importance in the child's physical, emotional & intellectual development.In line with the current digital era, teachers are required to integrate ICT in their daily teaching &replace their traditional methods with modern tools &facilities. (ICT4EDU) proposal addresses the need in Jo-HEIs for newly graduated student teachers to be able to teach using ICT, & for improving teachers & students digital competence, especially when dealing with children with special educational needs or disabilities, ICT plays a key role to facilitate their education process. Carrying out (ICT4EDU) project trans-nationally is essential for under-setting practices, & impacting policies & curricula in school of educational sciences & the integration of ICT teacher education to meet the requirements for digitally competent youth & children. The Main objective of (ICT4EDU) project in to enhance the quality of ICT competencies of early childhood teacher’s educators in the (8) higher education institutions in Jordan, Palestine and Egypt in line with advance EU practices, thereby enhancing the quality of the education in pre-schools in Jordan, Palestine and Egypt.

Freedom and participation in the academic world are crucial factors that motivated QOU to submit TEFL proposal. Palestine has been restricted inside its borders due to socio-political reasons. The occupation in Pal impacts the movement of people, divides the territory geographically and socio-politically. This has led to inequitable access to quality education for all students. Moreover, academics are struggling to communicate and interact with peers from countries all over the world, due to the language barrier. The exchange of knowledge, skills and culture with others poses as a great challenge for the Palestinian HEIs. These challenges ‘built walls’ prevent from being active and critical members of a growing global community.Teaching English in Pal faces great challenges and difficulties at all levels, in all domains. MoEHE (2015), Rixon (2013), attribute the challenges to several reasons, such as poor and inappropriate content, traditional teaching methodologies, lack of professional educators in TEFL to integrate educational technology, and missing modern learning spaces; the continuing dissatisfaction with the overall performance and proficiency of students in English language (EL) is attributed to the quality of instruction affected by lack of access to technology and unappealing materials and lack of motivation TEFL-ePal aims to develop flexible curricula, with face-to-face and online courses to be accessible to all learners, with no restrictions, reaching all learners including those with special needs and conditions, learners at work & women with restrictions. It aims to implement initiatives that develop learners' linguistic capacity, skills, and English language excellence, enhance modernization, internationalization and lifelong learning without ignoring the culture. The innovative character of the project serves the capacity-building aspect for Palestinian HEIs and bridges the gaps, addresses inclusion and the proper technological development.

Al-Istiqlal University as a specialized Higher Education Institution in training future officers for the different Homeland Security Departments is seeking to introduce the Virtual/Mixed- Reality Concept in the Topography and Forensics courses as an innovative approach to teach the student the different challenging technical concepts related to principle of navigation, terrain's topography, tracing and reading different maps describing the contours, interpret different keys when reading topographic maps, how to use compass in navigation , Extracting DNA from crime-scene evidences to perform PCR testing as an avant-guard training before using real expensive kits and samples in the future laboratory which is currently under construction at Al-Istiqlal University.Virtual reality is also used for training purposes especially in topics with a relative high risk and it can't be done inside the institution walls which includes flight and battlefield simulations, medical training under battlefield conditions, virtual boot camp and more. Moreover, the ability to introduce practical knowledge to the classroom without actually leaving it, makes educational experience invaluable. Rather than listening to lectures, students can put words underneath a headset and get a real experience but in a virtual wrapper.The project will explore both popular models used to implement the virtual reality concept : the first model using a common platform built around a 3D open world which will be shared by partners and offers a lot of possibilities to further development, while the second will be a laboratory-based approach using Head-Mounted Displays, haptic devices and some technological innovation like eye-tracking, and force feedback on peripherals .

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is currently more affected by wars and gross human rights violations than any other region in the world. To address this critical reality, innovative and promising approaches to the promotion of peace must be developed and integrated into the higher educational system within the region. Both Reconciliation and Conflict Transformation Studies are state-of-the-art approaches to transforming violent conflicts and triggering a social and cultural change. The development of Peace, Reconciliation, and Conflict Transformation Studies in the MENA region would transform the discipline, as well as the communities positively affected by their incorporation.The importance of this integration was acknowledged after the inauguration of the AAR where 45 Professors from 30 different Arab universities in the MENA region became members of the AARMENA. Today, we are working together to build capacity in the field of Higher Education (HEI) in Peace, Reconciliation and Conflict Transformation Studies in the MENA region. The program countries are Austria and Germany, in collaboration with the University of Innsbruck and Freidrich Schiller University. The partner countries are Jordan (University of Jorda, Petra University), Palestine Authority (Al-Istiklal University,Al-Azhar University), and Algeria (University of El Oued, Lamine Debaghine -Setif2). Our aim and focus are on the following :-The reinforcement of the existing network of cooperating partners through further regional, as well as international, cooperation to develop a program in Peace, Conflict Transformation, and Reconciliation Studies in HEI-Cooperation of UIBK UNESCO Chair for Peace Studies with Jena Centre for Reconciliation Studies JCRS in developing interactive reconciliation workshops and sessions for a teaching program in the hosting HEI's. -To advance curriculum development in Peace, Conflict Transformation, and Reconciliation Studies as academic degree in HEI.