The REACH project partners held the project’s final conference on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, via video conferencing, with broad participation from representatives of partner universities, international experts, and stakeholders, as part of the activities to disseminate results and review the project’s achievements aimed at enhancing access to cross-border employment opportunities and supporting graduate employment in the field of self-employment. The event marks the culmination of the REACH project’s closing days, which were held separately at each West Bank university due to the significant challenges of travel within the West Bank and between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These events took place during the last week of September, providing each partner with an opportunity to showcase their achievements and the results of the project’s activities within a national and local context that reflects the specific needs of each partner institution, before concluding with the unified project conference.
The conference began at 9:30 AM with registration, followed by an official opening ceremony that included the Palestinian national anthem and welcoming remarks from partner organizations. Professor Dr. Moshir Amer, Dean of Community Service and Continuing Education, delivered the opening address, followed by Engineer Basel Qandil, representing BTI and Dr. Sadiq Abdelall, the project director. The speakers emphasized the importance of the project in enhancing graduates’ skills and connecting university education with the regional and international job market.
A short introductory film highlighting the project’s most significant achievements and results was also shown, followed by a panel discussion entitled: “How important is university education in the success of self-employment?”, which addressed the role of higher education in enabling young people to enter the self-employment market with competitive skills.
The conference featured presentations of several success stories of graduates who benefited from the project, in addition to a ceremony to distribute certificates to the participants, followed by a short break.
In the scientific part of the conference, a series of research presentations were given within the “REACH Project Scientific Publications” theme, where Professor George Dafoulas from Middlesex University in London gave a presentation on analyzing cross-border employment needs in the IT freelance sector, Professor Victor Clemente from the University of Alicante in Spain gave a literature review on the essential success skills of freelancers, and Professor Ilaria Reggiani from Guglielmo Marconi University in Rome gave a presentation on analyzing graduate needs and extracting essential soft freelance skills.
The conference concluded at 13:30 with the reading of the final recommendations, in which participants stressed the importance of sustaining the project’s outputs and strengthening cooperation between partner universities and European institutions in supporting graduate employment and developing their future skills.