Assessment of the higher education sector needs in Palestine, in the context of the National Spatial Plan 2025

Abstract

The study discusses the capacity needs of the Palestinian Higher Education sector in the year 2025 in the context of the National Spatial Plan. This study aims to explain the capacity needs components that achieve the sustainable development of the higher education sector through proposed a new strategic framework for the spatial distribution of the higher education enrollments among the Palestinian HEIs depending on the availability of space on these institutions. The increasing of population affecting directly the increasing of the enrollments in the Palestinian context and the current Higher education facilities will not accommodate the high demand for the higher education in the upcoming years. The study tries to solve problems that facing the higher education in Palestine, which is related to the physical learning environment and the spatial distribution, such as, the unbalanced of the distribution of the Palestinian HEIs among the Palestinian governorates, the students overcrowding. It is also handling with the incompatibility between the higher education physical planning and the surrounding urban development through setting a framework for the future planning of the higher education sector. The research plan based on three main folds of data that are: field work, desktop study and theoretical analysis. The methodology is based on descriptive and analytical approaches, in which qualitative and quantitative approaches are applied. The main result of the research is an estimation of HE enrollments and the needed spaces for them in the year 2025 in the context of the National Spatial Plan, in addition the allocation of the needed spaces is proposed in this research. The study also tries to propose theoretical framework for the improvement of the HE sector. In addition, the research recommends that the location of the higher education institutions should be considered in the early planning stage. The future enrollments number and their trends should have special attention when planning for new HEI. It also recommends that the provision of the services and student‟s hostels are a main concern in the rural campuses