Organizing the Business Forum and An-Najah Career Day 2018

On Monday, April 23, 2018, and under the patronage of Professor Maher Natsheh, Acting President of An-Najah and with the support of TechnoLine, An-Najah Alumni Unit organized the Business Forum and An-Najah Career Day 2018 at the Korean-Palestinian IT Institute of Excellence in the New Campus.

The day included 49 companies and centres who interviewed around 400 of An-Najah alumni to offer them job opportunities and training.

Mr. Rafe' Daraghmeh, Director of An-Najah Alumni Unit announced the inauguration of the event's activities where her welcomed the participating companies and An-Najah graduates.

Prof. Natsheh welcomed the attendees and thanked the event's coordinators. He mentioned that this event aims to preserve the communication and partnership between An-Najah and the Public and Private Sectors. He added that An-Najah was the first in Palestine to establish a unit to its alumni and the University administration supports its graduates to establish startups as part of its strategy to decrease unemployment rates in Palestine.

He also exhibited some facts and figures that show that An-Najah receives around 6,000 students annually and has around 4,000 graduate students; therefore, it is necessary to have cooperation between the University and various local institutions to facilitate offering job opportunities and supporting graduates' startups.

Mr. Samer Salameh, Assistant Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Labour in Palestine said that hosting such events contributes to filling the gap between the alumni and the labour market's needs.

He mentioned that female labor force participation is still very low in Palestine as the rate reaches 19% only! He said that the Ministry of Labour is ready to provide logistic and technical support of up to 15,000$ for each woman seeking for a startup without any interests.

As part of An-Najah Alumni Success Story activity, Mrs. Rawand Al-Masri, who is a graduate of An-Najah's Finance and Banking Department for the year 1999 – 2000 and currently is the Director of the Jordan Kuwait Bank – Nablus Branch talked about her successive success stories throughout her career life.

Prof. Natsheh and the guests concluded the event's activities with a tour of the companies' booths to learn about the various job opportunities and training they will offer to An-Najah alumni.