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Ariel University

Coordinates: 32°06′17″N 35°12′34″E / 32.10472°N 35.20944°E / 32.10472; 35.20944
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Ariel University Center of Samaria
המרכז האוניברסיטאי אריאל בשומרון
File:Ariel College logo.PNG
TypePublic
Established1982
ChairmanMoshe Arens
ChancellorYigal Cohen-Orgad
PresidentDan Meyerstein
ProvostMichael Zinigrad
PrincipalEli Cohen
DeanShmuel Shacham
Studentsapproximately 14,000 (as of August 2011)[1]
Location
Ariel
CampusUrban
AffiliationsIAU
WebsiteEnglish
Hebrew
Campus

The Ariel University Center of Samaria (Hebrew: המרכז האוניברסיטאי אריאל בשומרון, HaMerkaz HaUniversitai Ariel BaShomron) is the largest Israeli public college located in the Israeli settlement of Ariel in the West Bank.[2]

The center was founded in 1982 to serve as a regional branch of Bar-Ilan University. Originally located in the settlement of Kedumim[citation needed], it moved to Ariel in order to expand. Its association with Bar-Ilan University lapsed in the 2004–05 academic year with the school administration's decision to become independent and pursue university status. the center has 26 departments for BA, MA, BSc and B.Arch studies, in three faculties and three schools. The university center contains approximately 14,000 students (as of August 2011) and it has an extension in Tel Aviv for studies and continuation. All of the degrees are recognized by the Council for Higher Education in Israel.

The Ariel University Center is in cooperation with international organizations and universities all over the world.[3][4][5][6] Even though there have been several boycotts of the college and its staff, both within Israel and internationally, due to the college being located in occupied territory.[7][8] These boycotts are being condemned against, both within Israel and internationally.[9][10][11]

University status

In 2005, the Israeli government voted to support upgrading the College to university status. On one level, this was viewed as a political decision to appease more conservative elements in Israeli politics before the implementation of the disengagement plan; on another, the high quantity and quality of academic research by the faculty could not be ignored. The reaction from the academic community in Israel was not openly receptive, partly because of its location beyond the Green Line, as well as allowing a new institution into the fold. The change of status was not immediate since the decision only allowed the College to apply for revision by the Council for Higher Education in Israel, which must ultimately approve the change. University status is an issue of prestige, increased government funding for research, as well as the ability to issue doctorate degrees.

In July 2006 the Council for Higher Education rejected the proposal (which had been paired with an initiative by Shimon Peres to unite several regional colleges in the Galilee into one umbrella university). The Council accepted the conclusion of a committee it had itself set up that decided that no new university would be established in Israel in the next five years. The committee did not discuss, or perhaps avoided the discussion of, the merits or shortcomings of the two initiatives. Subsequently, criticism was directed at the Council for ignoring the decision of the government.[12]

In August 2007, the "College of Judea and Samaria", in the interim period and anticipation of achieving official university status, was renamed by the Certification Authorities Registrar the "Ariel University Center of Samaria".[13] Although Prime Minister Ehud Olmert endorsed the change, both Minister of Education Yuli Tamir and the Council for Higher Education vowed to block it,[14] with the latter announcing in 2008 that they would not recognise degrees awarded by the college.[15] The name change was recognised in 2010, although the college remains without university accreditation.[16]

Visiting lecturers

AUC hosts visiting lecturers from universities around the world. In 2010 University of Hartford communications professor Don Ellis taught the course "Communication Issues and Political Conflict." He said: "My only goal is to help them improve their critical thinking skills. I don't expect that either side will acknowledge the other side as being right."[17]

International cooperation and international students

View towards the lower campus and the settlement of Ariel.

The Ariel University Center is a member of the International Association of Universities (IAU).[3]

The Center has signed an agreement of academic cooperation with more than 51 higher education institutions around the world, from the United States, Russia, France, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Argentina, Turkey, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Taiwan, Armenia, etc.[5][6] There is a partnership between the University of Toronto and the Ariel University on the Masters degree in Business Administration MBA.[18]

In 2008 Global Association of Risk Professionals established a branch in the University Center which conducts operator courses and international conferences in university center.[4]

The center is recognizerd as a Microsoft IT Academy and authorized to make certification exams for Microsoft Network Administration.[19] In addition, the Center has a unique qualification: Gold CPLS: Certified Partner for Learning Solutions.[19]

In 2011 Ariel University Center jointly with Ural Federal University[20] signed a cooperation agreement with the Skolkovo innovation center known as "Silicon Valley" in Russia. Following this agreement ,will be formed the "center of Israel – Scolkovo" (Israel Skolkovo Gateway), to give Israeli companies the opportunity to access capital resources and manpower of Scolkovo.[21] In addition, the Center serves as a representative of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities cooperation with the Russian Academy of Sciences.[22][23]

Ariel University Center participates in the project Masa Israel Journey in which students all over the world come for the time between a semester to a year study in Ariel, about 30% of students coming to study in Ariel immigrate to Israel at the end of the project.[24]

In August 2011, the university's technology transfer company was to sign a partnership agreement with Moscow's Skolkovo innovation center.[5] It was intended to afford Israeli start-ups access to Russian funding established by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and create Skolkovo Gateway Israel, a center formed to connect to Russia's Silicon Valley.[25]

Conference

In December 2011 the Ariel University Center of Samaria jointly with organization Free Muslims Coalition and the organization's president Kamal Nawash held a special conference to promote the peace, under the title “Best Plans for a Peaceful Israel/Palestine”. The conference, attended by Israeli Arabs, Israeli Jews and Palestinians from the PA-controlled areas of the West Bank. Presenting solutions to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.[26][27]

Academic boycotts

In early 2011, 145 Israeli academics announced they were boycotting the university to protest Israeli settlement expansion.[7] They wrote in their petition, "Ariel is not part of the sovereign territory of Israel, and we therefore cannot be required to go there."[28] This came after the Spanish Housing Ministry disqualified the university from taking part in an international architectural competition in 2009. The Spanish government explained that their decision to ban the university from taking part in the competition was a result of it being located in occupied territory in the West Bank.[8] The Anti-Defamation League asked the Spanish Government and the US Department of Energy to overturn the disqualification of Israeli researchers from an international solar energy competition in Madrid "The decision by the Spanish government to disqualify the Israeli researchers is unwarranted, biased and clearly discriminatory," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL’s national director, in a statement. "This unacceptable action introduces politics into an important scientific competition where politics has no place," he said[10] The British Association of University Teachers (AUT) also boycotted Bar-Ilan University in April 2005. The AUT justified the boycott on the grounds that Bar-Ilan University's running of a university in the occupied West Bank amounted to being "directly involved with the occupation of Palestinian territories contrary to United Nations resolutions". The boycott called for members of the AUT to boycott Bar-Ilan University "until it severs all academic links with the College of Judea and Samaria and with any other college located in an illegal settlement in the Occupied Territories."[29] The boycott was subsequently rescinded later that year in May.[30]

Faculties and departments

Research institutes

  • Center for Radiation Sources & Applications (FEL)
  • Materials Research Center
  • Integrative Brain Science Center – Ariel (IBSCA)
  • Center for Robotics Research and Applications
  • Samaria & Jordan Valley Regional R&D Center
  • Homeland Security R&D Center
  • Israel National Strategic Assessment Center
  • Mass Media Research Center
  • The kinematics and computational geometry (KCG) multidisciplinary laboratory
  • Cluster computation system
  • Human Factors Engineering Laboratory
  • The Sheri and Arnold Schlesinger Medical Radiation Protection, Training, Information and Research Center
  • The Therapeutic and Educational Social Robotics Lab ( TESRL)

Enrollment

Current enrollment at the university is about 14,000, including Jewish, Arab, Christian, Druze and Circassian Israeli students.[31][32][33] As of 2011 there are 600 Israeli Arab students.[34]

Notable faculty

Dani Dayan
  • Mel Alexenberg, artist
  • Yigal Cohen-Orgad (born 1937), former Israeli Minister of Finance; Chancellor of Ariel University Center of Samaria
  • Dani Dayan (born 1955), Chairman of the Yesha Council and lecturer at Ariel
  • Israel Hanukoglu, Professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and former Science and Technology Adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel
  • Ram Karmi (born 1931), architect
  • Dan Meyerstein (born 1938), President of Ariel University Center of Samaria
  • Alexander Rofé (born 1932), bible scholar

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ "Ariel University Center of Samaria". Ariel.ac.il. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
  3. ^ a b [2] Member Institutions
  4. ^ a b "The GARP site at the Ariel University Center of Samaria; The academic chapter of Israel". Ariel.ac.il. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  5. ^ a b Ariel University Center of Samaria, in cooperation with academic institutions around the world
  6. ^ a b "Scientific Cooperation and Partners | Ariel University Center of Samaria | Israel". University-directory.eu. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  7. ^ a b Israeli Academics to Boycott Ariel University, Huffington Post, 9 January 2011.
  8. ^ a b Spain boycotts Ariel college for being in 'occupied territory' Ynetnews.com, 22 September 2009.
  9. ^ Professors no boycott Ariel university Ynetnews, 1 September 2011
  10. ^ a b ADL: Stop Discrimination Against Ariel University Arutz Sheva, 30 September 2009.
  11. ^ French Support for Israel Arutz Sheva, 22 September 2009.
  12. ^ Request from Ariel College to become a university turned down Walla News, 12 July 2006
  13. ^ Justice Ministry Downgrades Ariel University to College Israel National News, 30 March 2008
  14. ^ Ariel College upgrades itself to 'university' status Haaretz, 2 August 2007
  15. ^ Education Council: We won't recognize degrees awarded by Ariel college Haaretz, 11 June 2008
  16. ^ Council for Higher Education: Ariel university status years away The Jerusalem Post, 21 January 2010
  17. ^ Hartford Courant. 16 July 2010 http://www.courant.com/community/west-hartford/hc-west-hartford-professor-0718-20100716,0,1068977.story. Retrieved 24 September 2011. {{cite news}}: |url= missing title (help)
  18. ^ Canada and Israel Continue academic cooperation
  19. ^ a b "Apply for the IT Academy Program". Microsoft.com. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
  20. ^ [3] Your Way to Russian Silicon Valley
  21. ^ "Israel Skolkovo Gateway". Israelsk.com. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
  22. ^ "Bi-national Russian-Israeli workshop". Academy.ac.il. 19 June 2005. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
  23. ^ "Ariel University Center of Samaria". Ariel.ac.il. 2 August 2006. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  24. ^ http://www.masaisrael.org/NR/rdonlyres/25AACC4C-EA3E-4C6D-959A-C32291E628F9/93015/20112012MasaStudyAbroadCatalogue.pdf. Retrieved 25 October 2011. {{cite web}}: |url= missing title (help)
  25. ^ [4]
  26. ^ Israelis, Arabs Offer Solutions to the Conflict
  27. ^ Right-wing, Palestinians brainstorm at Ariel parley
  28. ^ Israel academics to boycott college Aljazeera English, 9 January 2011.
  29. ^ "Report to members from the AUT national council". Archived from the original on 30 January 2006. Retrieved 22 May 2005.
  30. ^ "Academics vote against Israeli boycott". The Guardian. London. 26 May 2005. Retrieved 22 May 2005.
  31. ^ Quick Facts About The Ariel University Center of Samaria
  32. ^ A study in irony Haaretz, 22 June 2005
  33. ^ Arabs Studying at ‘Settler’ College Israel Today, 18 January 2006
  34. ^ Apartheid, You Say? 600 Arab Students Begin Year at Ariel U

External links

32°06′17″N 35°12′34″E / 32.10472°N 35.20944°E / 32.10472; 35.20944

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