Founded as a small school for girls in the village of Birzeit in 1924, Birzeit University is now a distinguished Palestinian university with a modern campus on the outskirts of the city of Ramallah, 20 km northwest of Jerusalem. Throughout its existence, Birzeit University has been the product of Palestinian labor, minds, and resources.

Since its inception, the university has developed in response to the increasing demands of higher education in Palestine and the world. Against all odds-including severe restrictions on academic development and freedom imposed by the Israeli military occupation – the university embodies a success story that is inspiring to all Palestinians.

The university celebrated its first graduating class in 1976, the same year when it joined the Association of Arab Universities, and it joined the International Association of Universities in 1977.

By the end of the 1970s and well through the 1980s, Birzeit University went through an academic and urban resurgence, where it launched even more academic programs, built faculties and the main library, and continued its community outreach tradition by building its numerous institutes and centers.

Birzeit University entered the third millennium relying confidently on a legacy of academic distinction and it’s well-designed university campus while winning several local and international awards.

The university, through its eight faculties (Arts; Science; Business and Economics; Law and Public Administration; Engineering and Technology; Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Professions; Education; and Graduate Studies), provides a wealth of academic programs that end in bachelor’s degrees, such as the major/minor programs.

These faculties, in addition to the Graduate Studies faculty, offer a number of postgraduate programs that lead to master’s degrees. The university also offers one Ph.D. program in social sciences.

Birzeit University has a storied history in community engagement and outreach. The community programs that it offers range from literacy education and public and community health initiatives in the 1980s, to media development, judicial reforms and women, continuing education, environment and water studies, development, education, health, technological development, and pharmaceutical industries at the present time.

The eleven institutes and centers at the university bolster the relationship with civil society by engaging in areas that reflect the development goals in Palestine.

Birzeit University, often abbreviated as BZU, is a non-governmental public university located in Birzeit, Palestine.