6/24/2024–|Last updated: 6/24/202406:35 PM (Mecca time)
Al-Azhar University is located in the Gaza Strip. It is a Palestinian national university that includes 12 colleges. It was established by the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in 1991, out of his desire to consolidate the values of adhering to the roots and clinging to them among the Palestinians. Its name is similar to Al-Azhar University in Egypt, but it is not affiliated with it.
In 2017, the university ranked first in a ranking of universities in Gaza, and third among Palestinian universities, according to the Webometrics website.
the site
The university’s main headquarters is located on Gamal Abdel Nasser Street, also known as Al-Thalathini Street, one of the city’s main streets. Close to it is the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the Islamic University, and opposite it is the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
There is another university headquarters located in the Al-Mughraqa area, and there is another university building in the Al-Mazraa area off Gamal Abdel Nasser Street.
stations
The university began with the Colleges of Sharia and Law (it became the College of Law) and the College of Education. In 1992, it launched 4 other colleges: Pharmacy, Agriculture, Science, and Humanities. In 1993, the College of Economics and Administrative Sciences was established.
In 1997, the College of Applied Sciences was established, in line with the development of Palestinian society and its aspiration to study specific specializations, until the university decided to establish a College of Medicine in 1999, to be the first college of medicine in the Gaza Strip, and in 2001 it established the College of Engineering and Information Technology.
In 2007, the university established the Dr. Haider Abdel Shafi College of Dentistry, and in 2009 the university’s College of Sharia was reopened again, to be an important scientific institute for the study of Islamic law.
In 2015, the King Hassan II Building for Environmental and Agricultural Sciences was inaugurated in the Magharqa area, with funding from Moroccan King Mohammed VI.
Academic development
The university established master’s programs in the specializations of Arabic language, education, law, chemistry, and agriculture. Then it moved to expand in the field of qualifying studies. It established a department of continuing education, developed intermediate diploma programs and transformed them into colleges of intermediate studies, whose mission is to grant diploma degrees in various fields of study.
It established various scientific laboratories, including the Water and Soil Laboratory, the Food Analysis Laboratory, the Pharmaceutical Research Laboratory, and others.
The Water Research Center is one of the most famous and prominent research centers and laboratories affiliated with the university. It was established in May 1995 and is an independent, non-governmental institution that aims to meet the requirements of infrastructure projects in the Gaza Strip. It also aims to help build the infrastructure for the water environment that will Raising the standard of living of the Palestinian people.
International cooperation
The university signed a number of twinning agreements with its counterparts from some international universities, most notably the Universities of Dunkirk and Aix-Marseille in France, the University of the Suez Canal, Cairo, Assiut, Al-Azhar and Tanta in Egypt, the British University of UMEST, the University of Philips Marburg in Germany, the University of Verrier in Brussels, Belgium, and others.
Al-Azhar University in Gaza is also a member of a number of international unions and associations, including the International Association of Universities. The university has received many grants for European Union projects, and is currently managing a small number of Union projects.
It is a member of Erasmus Mundus, a scholarship program affiliated with the European Union, which provides funded opportunities for students wishing to obtain a master’s degree in Europe, and allows them to study at at least two European universities. It is a fully funded educational scholarship, which includes fellowships and training opportunities as well.
University’s library
The university’s central library is considered one of the largest university libraries in the Gaza Strip. It was established with the launch of the university in 1991, and opened its new building in 2000, under the name “Jawaharlal Nehru Library”, under a grant from the Indian government.
The library is located in an independent building with an area of 4,800 square metres, consisting of a ground floor and three upper floors. The library contains a large collection of book titles, dissertations and scientific periodicals, numbering 70,000 in Arabic and foreign languages.
Constant aggression
In July 2018, occupation aircraft bombed buildings belonging to Al-Azhar University in Gaza, causing serious material losses.
On November 4, 2023, Israeli occupation aircraft launched air strikes that included the university building, and the bombing resulted in severe damage and destruction to the buildings.
According to the university’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, Sami Musleh, the university suffered heavy financial losses amounting to more than $221 million due to the Israeli aggression.
Significant damage was caused to the buildings of the West Campus colleges, including the Central University Library and the College of Dentistry, including its clinics and laboratories, the Colleges of Education, Arts and Humanities, the College of Economics and Administrative Sciences, the Greater Haifa Hall, the Greater Hall of Akka, the Sheikh Muhammad Awad Hall, and the Institute of Water and Environment with its contents. Of laboratories and classrooms.