As part of the IUPALS Project – Italian Universities for Palestinian Students, a national initiative promoted by CRUI (the Conference of Italian University Rectors), the University of Brescia has recently been able to welcome, thanks to the generous support of the local community, a Palestinian student who is the recipient of a scholarship funded by a fundraising campaign launched by the University last September.
The student, who is due to enrol on an engineering course, left the Gaza Strip and is now in Brescia thanks to the evacuation operation carried out on 11 and 12 May. The operation was coordinated by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in conjunction with the embassies in Tel Aviv and Amman and the Consulate General in Jerusalem, and in cooperation with the Jordanian and Israeli authorities.
For the 2025/2026 academic year, the University of Brescia had already awarded three scholarships to young people from the Gaza Strip, who arrived in Italy on 23 October and 21 November via the ‘university corridors’, made possible through collaboration with the Ministry of University and Research, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic authorities. The public appeal for donations published last September in support of the IUPALS project aimed to relaunch the fundraising drive to finance further scholarships.
Università di Brescia would like to express its heartfelt thanks for the support received, which is the result of the wholehearted and supportive participation of numerous local organisations: associations, private companies, individual citizens, fair trade buying groups, students and lecturers. This collective effort is a testament to a strong sense of civic and social responsibility and has made it possible for a student from a particularly vulnerable background to embark on a university course in Italy.