The two-day meeting aims to discuss cooperation between the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow and Bethlehem University. Br Peter Bray, FSC, EdD Vice Chancellor of Bethlehem University, Prof Irene Hazou, PhD, Vice President for Academic Affairs BU and Prof Slawomira Zbierska-Salameh, PhD, International Board of Regents BU came to Krakow.

The delegates from Bethlehem University were met by the Rector of UPJPII, Rev. Prof. Robert Tyrała, the staff of the UPJPII International Cooperation Office: International Cooperation Coordinator Tomasz Kniaź and the university's Erasmus Programme Coordinator Urszula Kubiczek, as well as faculty representatives responsible for the teaching offer. The talks took place in the Senate Room of the UPJPII Rector's Office, and a presentation was given in which Tomasz Kniaź presented data about the university and compared the teaching offer of Bethlehem University with that of UPJPII - analogous fields of study, areas of research, showing points of contact where cooperation could achieve the most desirable effects.

After their stay at UPJPII, the guests visited Wawel Cathedral, including the renovated chapter house of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter, thanks to a project implemented by UPJPII.

On 17 May, the guests from Bethlehem University visited the John Paul II Centre "Do not be afraid" and the Main Library on the site of the currently expanded John Paul II Campus on the Ruczaj estate in Krakow.

As a reminder - on 21 October 2022, a delegation from UPJPII arrived in Bethlehem to take part in a ceremony to confer the patronage of Halina and Stanisław Zbierski (parents of Professor Slawomira Zbierska-Salameh, currently a guest at UPJPII) on the library at the university there. The ceremony of naming the library, at the same time inaugurated the year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of Bethlehem University. During the naming ceremony, Br Peter Bray, FSC, EdD Vice Chancellor of Bethlehem University and Rev. Prof. Robert Tyrała, Rector of the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, signed a letter of intent for academic cooperation between UPJPII and Bethlehem University, and thus for potential collaboration with the wider international network of Catholic Universities managed by the La Salle Brothers.

The origins of Bethlehem University are linked to Pope Paul VI's historic 1964 visit to the Holy Land and the pope's vision to create an institution that promotes the social values of the Catholic Church while meeting the needs of the Palestinian community. After years of preparation and cooperation between the Vatican and the La Salle Brothers' institutions operating in the Holy Land, Bethlehem University - the first institution of higher learning for young Palestinians - opened in 1973.

Established in Bethlehem in 1973, the University was a lasting commemoration of Pope Paul VI's visit and marked the beginning of the institutional cooperation between the Vatican and the La Salle Congregation of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in the management of the University, which continues to this day.