ENGAGE - ARCHIVE

Background

The University of Haifa is located at the summit of Mount Carmel. The campus, which extends over 180,000 square meters, includes academic facilities and dormitories as well as the IBM research laboratories, the university library and special archives, an archeological museum, three art galleries and an academic television channel. The university's grounds, on the ridge of a national park, offer panoramic views of the city and Haifa Bay.

The University of Haifa is the first and only liberal arts university in Israel's north, a region characterized by a mix of thriving cities and towns as well as multicultural communities and underdeveloped areas. Acco, Karmiel, Kiryat Shmona, Nahariya, Nazareth, Sakhnin, and Shfar'am are among the home towns of many University of Haifa students. The University of Haifa actively integrates higher education with applied research and community outreach to address regional challenges and universal social issues.

The University of Haifa was established in 1963, with 475 students enrolled in two faculties, the social sciences and the humanities. Since then, its academic horizons have expanded significantly. The law faculty and a graduate school of business administration are among the highly regarded academic enterprises of the past decade. The university enjoyed a major growth surge in the 1990s, and today 17,200 students are enrolled in six faculties, pursuing degrees in a wide range of undergraduate and advanced degree programs.

Directions for development are focused on advancement of emerging fields, interdisciplinary methods, and the cultivation of academic, business and community leadership.

Research Centers

The university has established over 40 research centers, from The Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, to The International Center for Health, Law and Ethics, home to the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics, and The Institute of Evolution headed by Professor Eviatar Nevo.

The university also focuses on the academic investigation of social issues. The Center for Multiculturalism and Educational Research examines theoretical and practical models of multiculturalism from local, regional and international perspectives. Professor Majid Al Haj, the founding director of the Center, was appointed Dean of Research in 2005.

The Interdisciplinary Clinical Center works on advancing community care in fields ranging from communications disorders to physical and occupational therapy to gerontology and public health.

Advanced study in fields from interdisciplinary applications of computer science to maritime studies are promoted by the university. Prominent research centers also include the Center for Democracy Education and the Center for Research on Peace Education.

National and International Conferences and Symposia

Among recent conferences was a gathering of Israel's leading legislators and legal scholars to advance the development of a draft constitution for the State of Israel. Recent literary symposia have examined the literary works of writers from Israel's Nobel laureate S.Y. Agnon to the travel literature of Jules Verne. An international conference in Hellenic studies addressed Mediterranean commercial networks of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Internationally prominent computer scientists were drawn to a workshop on interdisciplinary applications of graph theory, combinatorics, and algorithms.

Cooperative International Agreements

University of Haifa researchers are engaged in hundreds of joint investigations with international colleagues. Psychologist Professor Gal Richter-Levin is a member of a multinational European scientific group studying strategies for the treatment of dysfunctional brain plasticity in learning and memory. Political scientists Professors Daphna Canetti-Nisim and Gabriel Ben-Dor are researching terrorism and traumatic responses with colleagues from Kent State University in a project supported by the United States National Institute for Mental Health. In a joint project with Al-Quds University, Professors Zvia Breznitz and Baruch Nevo are developing and implementing diagnostic and prognostic tests for learning disabilities in Palestinian and Israeli youth.

Innovative academic programs have been introduced to foster leadership development by the Graduate School of Business. Its Executive MBA program has brought together scores of businesspeople – Israeli Jews and Arabs as well as Palestinians -- in an intensive study program and alumni activities. The Graduate Business School is also seeking to launch an innovative MBA Program for the Management of Educational Institutions to enable senior educators to attain needed business skills to complement their pedagogical knowledge and experience.

Although parts of Israel's north have long been considered disadvantaged, diverse communities from these areas are expressing a growing interest in higher education. Twenty percent of the University of Haifa's undergraduates are Arab citizens of the state of Israel and another quarter are recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia and Latin America. A significant proportion of students have modest economic means, and many are the first members of their families to seek a higher education. To assure these young adults the best possible opportunity to succeed, the University has established academic preparatory programs which include enrichment courses, seminars, counseling, individual tutoring and financial aid.

The university is also building on the momentum of the success of community leadership programs which have drawn hundreds of students in recent years. Additional students will be enrolled in the Open Apartments Program, in which students devote weekly hours to community service in exchange for modest scholarships and rent-free apartments in the neighborhoods they serve, and a highly regarded Arab Student Leadership Program is now being adapted to engage Arab and Jewish students in shared training and projects.

The University of Haifa is taking an active role in helping Ethiopian students bridge the gap between their traditional backgrounds and modern life in the State of Israel. An affirmative action program admits students with academic potential, and supports their studies with tutoring. Among the artistic endeavors nurtured by the university's arts programs is an innovative dance troupe, Eskesta, in which Ethiopian students give contemporary expression to dance and music heritages of Africa.

Academic Forums for Addressing the Issues of Israel's Arab Minority

The faculty of the University of Haifa includes Jewish and Arab scholars with research interests in issues including conflict resolution, social change, multiculturalism and specific aspects of the complexity of Jewish-Arab relations. Many of these topics find expression in projects under the auspices of the University's Jewish-Arab Center, led by Dr. Faisal Azaiza, as well as public forums such as conferences, student seminars and academic events which advance meaningful dialogue on Arab-Jewish coexistence. A recent conference examined the potential for coexistence in holy places in light of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The university values cultural accomplishments as well as scientific achievements. Leading musical composers Professor Oded Zahavi and Boaz Ben Moshe, and well known literary figures A.B. Yehoshua and Natan Zach hold academic posts at the University of Haifa. Their engagement with life on campus provides inspiration for students of the arts and enriches the cultural atmosphere of the university.

The university has awarded honorary doctoral degrees to prominent international leaders and individuals who have contributed significantly to scientific and humanitarian progress. Among them are Professor Moshe Bar-Asher, President, Israel's Academy of the Hebrew Language; Boutros Boutros-Ghali, United Nations Secretary General; Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss; neurologist and psychologist Viktor Frankel; Joschka Fischer, German Minister of Foreign Affairs; Vaclav Havel, first president of the Czech Republic; and Professor of Social Ecology Elizabeth Loftus.

More information about The University of Haifa may be found on the website, here.