By Reem Qadan

RAMALLAH, June 13, 2012 (WAFA) – The Ramallah-based National Beverage Company (NBC), owner of Coca-Cola Company, and the United States Consulate General in Jerusalem Wednesday said they are sponsoring participation of 13 Palestinian university students in the Global Business Institute in the USA.

The announcement was made at Coca-Cola premises by NBC chairman and chief executive officer Zahi Khouri and US Consul General Daniel Rubinstein.

Coca-Cola and the US State Department will fully fund the participation of the winning students from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for one month on an exchange program to learn about business and entrepreneurship at Indiana University in the US.

Khouri congratulated the winning students and called on them to receive and bring back the best of what US business institutes can offer, stressing the importance of presenting the Palestinian society and reality to the American public.

Rubinstein, on his part, also congratulated the students for enrolling in the prestigious “original education experience,” which is part of the Coca-Cola’s support of Partners for a New Beginning (PNB), an alliance of public-private partnerships committed to deepening engagement between US and local communities on issues of education, exchange, economic opportunity, and science and technology.

Winning student Basel Saydeh, a third-year Computer Science student from Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron, was among several hundred college students who applied to the Coca-Cola Global Business Institute scholarship.

Saydeh’s idea was to establish an employment unit in the Hebron governorate to coordinate the requirements of the labor market with the academic institutions to close the large gap between the number of university graduates and job opportunities. His entrepreneurial idea is being implemented in four universities in Hebron and he aspires to implement it nationwide.

Saydeh said a judging committee screened the various projects submitted and brought them to vote on the social network Facebook to get a feedback from the community. His was one of the 13 winners.

R.Q./M.S.