Introductory meeting of the REACH Project

On Sunday 22^nd August, 2021 REACH project manager Dr. Sadiq Abdelall and the team at the Islamic University of Gaza conducted an Introductory meeting of the Project with the university president, vices president and the deans. Dr. Muhammad Alhanjouri - Deputy Dean of Community Service and Continuing Education welcomed the audience and talked about the departments and services provided by the Deanship of Community Service and Continuing Education. Eng. Basel Qandeel - Director of Business and Technology Incubator BTI gave a quick presentation on the BTI incubator and the most important projects currently implemented in the field of entrepreneurship and self-employment. Muhammad Shamaa - Freelance Program Coordinator on the BTI shared with numbers and statistics about the freelance program in the BTI incubator for the last years. Dr. Sadiq Abdelall – REACH Project Manager Presented a presentation about the REACH project, which included the most important objectives of the project, the most important activities, the extent of progress achieved, the partners and responsibilities of each partner, the expected outputs from the project, the timetable, and the project's sustainability factors. The discussion between the attendees was centered on the impact of self-employment and the need to qualify university students in all faculties to take advantage of self-employment opportunities. It was agreed to target the following faculties within the project: Information Technology, Engineering, Commerce, Arts and Education. The cross-border work center will be affiliated with the Deanship of Community Service and Continuing Education, which is responsible for its management, activation and sustainability. Activating the role of the graduates' center to provide job opportunities for graduates and not be limited to local market opportunities only. Inclusion of the entrepreneurship and self-employment course within the university's requirements so that it is available to all students, and under the supervision and follow-up of the incubator from developing content to teaching methods. Develop a vision for integrating self-employment within the summer field training program.>