NAPLES – Twenty-four Palestinian students have been welcomed by Federico II University thanks to the IUPALS program, an initiative promoted by the Italian University of Naples (CRUI) that involves 35 Italian universities. This morning, Rector Matteo Lorito, along with Vice-Rector Angela Zampella, welcomed them to the Council Chamber, emphasizing the human and academic value of the project. "We are very happy to have you here and to have invested in this program, thanks to which you can now study in Naples and at Federico II," said Lorito. "We have had long-standing relationships with universities in Palestine, and we will do our best, even knowing that not everything is perfect, to ensure that you can stay and fulfill your aspirations."
The group is made up of eleven students from Gaza, who arrived in Italy after a complex journey that took them first to Jordan and then to Italy on state flights; the other students come from various locations in the West Bank. All are now regularly enrolled in the University's English-taught master's degree programs. "The students had the opportunity to enroll in all of our 14 English-taught master's programs, and now they are regularly attending classes," explained Gianluigi Mauriello, Federico II's contact for the IUPALS project. The University had initially provided ten scholarships, which were then doubled thanks to funding from the Campania Region, which allowed the University to accept twenty-four students.
The stay will last two years. Some of the students are hosted at Campus X, while others have been hosted by volunteers. The entire integration process was made possible thanks to the support of Alì Shaikh Ibrahim, a Federico II graduate and the program's local coordinator.
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