Master’s Degree in Translation and Interpreting

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Master's Degree in Translation and Interpreting

Both culturally and historically, Jerusalem is an important city in the world – a microcosm of Palestine. It has been the meeting ground of peoples and languages for many millennia, and is still a point of continuous contact among many languages – despite its current political difficulties. Such contact is a permanent feature of the population because of Jerusalem’s status as the site of pilgrimages and the presence in it of international and local non-government organizations and consular representatives. Tourism is also a major economic activity requiring multilingual translation and interpreting. In addition to millions of visitors from all over the world, researchers come from several countries to do work in different languages. This program is crucial and necessary for Jerusalem and its surrounding areas, for Palestine and for the region.

The MA and Higher Diploma programs in translation and interpreting are offered at the campus of Al-Quds University, in east Jerusalem and its suburb of Abu Dees. Al-Quds University was established in 1994 through the amalgamation of older Palestinian colleges in the Jerusalem area. It has 12 faculties located in east Jerusalem, its suburbs and nearby areas (Abu Dees, Beit Hanina, Ramallah). It offers opportunities to more than 11000 female and male Palestinian students in the Jerusalem area and other parts of the West Bank to pursue higher education in the arts, humanities, sciences, medicine, dentistry, health professions, public health, law, and other fields. Al-Quds University has agreements and exchanges with several universities worldwide. (See the university website at

In addition to its key location, this MA/Higher Diploma program is essential in Palestine for a number of reasons. Among them are those associated, particularly over the past decade, with political, economic, media, and other developments, which have been accompanied by a sharp increase in the level of international activity. In many instances, local and international organizations are forced to rely on experts outside Palestine, in view of the inadequate number of translators and interpreters capable of producing quality work. Moreover, such a program is a national investment that will allow qualified graduates to study locally at lower expense. There are many other practical, research, and developmental advantages that would accrue from establishing a program at this level.

As a Palestinian program set up in response to increased demand for translators and interpreters at a key junction in Palestinian history, it has the potential to attract highly qualified graduate with first degrees in various fields, some already started in careers, who want to apply themselves seriously to attain the requisite skills to function as skilled translators and interpreters. Whereas regional and local programs in translation tend to be traditional and are limited mostly to the study of two languages, this MA program aims to benefit from recent advances in translation studies and technologies and to offer opportunities for training in at least two and preferably three of the following languages: Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish (with additional languages possible in the future). The program is cognizant of Palestine’s colonial situation, past and present, and the current climate of “globalization.” It is designed to provide candidates, graduates from any field, with multilingual training for various commercial, technical/scientific, media and institutional translational needs and added skills that are transferable to several careers.

Al-Quds University