7th July has seen the formalisation of the Jijel-Coventry Universities’ partnership with the official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two institutions. The “virtual” signing was led by the Rector of Jijel University Professor Hamza Amireche who celebrated the successful development of this initiative, despite the challenging conditions in 2020. The signing conducted with the presence of the representative of the Wilaya, the regional government in Jijel, and staff and students from both universities. Speaking on behalf of Coventry University, Executive Director of the Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations, Prof Mike Hardy praised this exciting new cooperation and the sharing of expertise between the universities.
Organised ahead of a joint international webinar on “Responding to Coronavirus,” arranged by the academic partners, this important MoU aims to promote staff and student mobility, to develop further opportunities for collaborative research and to provide mutual support in our research and teaching. Speaking at the event, both Rector of Jijel University Prof Amireche and CTPSR Director Prof Hardy expressed their happiness at the formalising of this partnership. They spoke of the value of this relationship to both institutions and the importance of sharing knowledge across our borders.
The Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR) at Coventry University in particular has been working with Jijel University since 2018. This has involved participating in conferences in Jijel and welcoming colleagues such as Dr Adel Chiheb and Hicham Betahar in Coventry. The successful joint BA funded Doctoral Summer School in 2019 inspired the development of our new Youth Futures research programme.
In challenging times for both countries and institutions, this MoU will enable us to strengthen this partnership. The conference on ‘Responding to Coronavirus’ which followed the MoU signing was a first initiative within this framework. This included papers on the impact of governance systems, modernization, social solidarity on our responses and the impact of the pandemic on young people, particularly on education.
