Psycho-Prac, the Kore University of Enna leads the way in strengthening psychology departments in Palestine

An academic project to strengthen three Palestinian psychology departments. This is the Psycho-Prac project, set up thanks to a 710,000 euro European grant, which sees the Kore University of Enna in the role of lead partner and professor Ugo Pace as scientific coordinator.

Alongside the Sicilian university, an international partnership: the universitat autònoma de Barcelona, the Palestinian universities Al-Azhar university in Gaza, Al-Istiqlal university in Jericho and Al-Quds university in Jerusalem, together with the Palermo-based NGO Ciss - South south international cooperation, which has been active in the Palestinian Territories for years. The objective is to strengthen the quality and modernisation of the Psychology departments of the three Palestinian universities, making their courses more adherent to the social challenges of a tormented territory.

Psycho-Prac focuses on academic cooperation: the European and Palestinian consortium will implement capacity-building courses for 90 teachers and administrators, with a training programme built after a needs mapping exercise carried out in the first phase of the project.

The Kore University of Enna will lead this process, introducing innovative teaching methods, problem-solving approaches, counselling techniques and tools for university governance.

A qualifying element of the project will be the creation of threeApplied Psychology Laboratories, one for each partner university in Palestine: facilities equipped with instruments for qualitative and experimental research, useful both for training and for the development of new scientific skills. It is these laboratories that will represent the real leap forward, as they will allow students to practise psychodiagnostic tests, observations, evaluation protocols and clinical activities, overcoming the traditional distance between theory and practice.