Amman- June 1, 2016

Under the patronage of HE Mr. Adnan Abu Al Ragheb, Chairman of Jordan Chamber of Industry, the German Jordanian University organized a workshop entitled: " University - Industry Collaboration: Cooperation Opportunities and Challenges" on Wednesday, June 1, 2016

The aim of this workshop was to discuss the areas of cooperation between the university and its partners from the industry. This is considered one of the most important goals that the university is seeking to achieve in the near future. This is because such cooperation will link the outputs of the university with the needs of the labor market, industry and community.

Mr. Abul Ragheb, Chairman of Jordan Chamber of Industry, pointed to the importance of the industrial sector in Jordan in terms of its contribution to the gross domestic product, jobs provision and exports. He also stressed the importance of the role of the academic sector in the development of the industry. Therefore, the Chamber has sponsored several programs to promote this role, such as: faculty for factory program, and the a ward for graduation projects implemented in industry.

From his side, Professor Natheer Abu Obeid, GJU President, pointed to the gap between education and labor market requirements. He shared a vision of making GJU a great model for an applied university at the local and regional level. He added that GJU can benefit from cooperation with its German partners’ experience in applied education and that it is possi2ble to create a special form that considers Jordan’s circumstances.

He also stressed that applied education develops skills and innovation. Therefore, GJU achieved the first step toward innovation through establishing GJU Program Innovation & Entrepreneurship (GJU PIE). This program creates a mechanism for converting selected graduation projects into entrepreneur projects.

The workshop included several lectures in the opening session, which include: Best practice from Jordan: “The Solar Cooling Project”, Best practice from Germany : “SAP Dual Study Training”, Best practice from the region: “Dual Studies at Al-Quds University”, Best practice GJU Alumni: “Arabia Weather – A Startup Success Story”.

Then the attendees visited the exhibition "Made at GJU", which included posters that gave a summary of the research that has been done in collaboration with the industry, as well as some of the products made at GJU.

The exhibition was followed by ten parallel workshops included direct dialogue between the different schools and their invited industrial partners. These workshops discussed the following topics: “Energy and Environment”, “Health”, “Industry Driving the Technology”, “Construction & Design”, “From Engineering to Industry”, ”Logistics, Accounting, Management”,  “Translation and Communication: Experiences and Perspectives”,  “Marketing and Operations”,  “Dual Study Program at GJU”,  “Innovation & Entrepreneurship“.

A wrap-up session was chaired by Prof. Natheer Abu Obeid, President of GJU. This session presented the conclusions of these parallel workshops and the action plan for the near future. In addition, GJU president pointed out that the Industrial Relations Committee will follow up on the implementation of these outcomes.  Further, he invited the industrial partners to join the Friends of GJU program and pointed out that there will be other meetings that capitalize on the results of the this workshop.