Bar-Ilan University

From Vero - Wikipedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox university

File:בנין פסיכולוגיה ע'ש אנה ומקס ווב ומשפחתם (11795059335) - fixed.jpg
Anna & Max Webb and Family Psychology Building at the Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

Bar-Ilan University (BIU, Template:Langx, Universitat Bar-Ilan) is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 students and 1,350 faculty members.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bar-Ilan's mission is to "blend Jewish tradition with modern technologies and scholarship and the university endeavors to ... teach the Jewish heritage to all its students while providing [an] academic education."<ref>Higher Education in Israel: Bar-Ilan University, Jewish Virtual Library </ref> The university is among the best in the Middle East in the fields of computer science, engineering, engineering physics and applied physics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2024, the university was donated $260 million, one of the biggest donations to a university in Israeli history, for investment in science. The donor wished to remain anonymous.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Bar-Ilan's first graduation ceremony in 1959
Error creating thumbnail:
Wengrowsky Family Lookout and Visitors' Center Template:Aka Lev HaCampus (Template:Lit heart of the campus)
File:PikiWiki Israel 15922 Unity park in Bar-Ilan University.JPG
Bar-Ilan Faculty of engineering
Error creating thumbnail:
HaMachon HaGavoah LeTorah campus bet midrash and midrasha

Bar-Ilan University has Jewish-American roots: It was conceived in Atlanta in a meeting of the American Mizrahi organization in 1950, and was founded by Professor Pinkhos Churgin, an American Orthodox rabbi and educator, who was president from 1955 to 1957 where he was succeeded by Joseph H. Lookstein who was president from 1957 to 1967.<ref name="autogeneratedil">Template:Cite web</ref> When it was opened in 1955, it was described by The New York Times "as Cultural Link Between the [Israeli] Republic and America".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Presidents who followed were Max Jammer (1967–77), Emanuel Rackman (1977–86), Michael Albeck (1986–89), Ernest Krausz (1989), Zvi Arad (1989–92), and Shlomo Eckstein (1992–96).<ref name="autogeneratedil"/>

The university was named for Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan (originally Meir Berlin), a Religious Zionist leader who served as the inspiration for its establishment. Although he was trained in Orthodox seminaries in Berlin, he believed there was a need for an institution providing a dual curriculum of secular academic studies and religious Torah studies.

BIU's student population is diverse and includes both Jewish and non-Jewish students.

Jewish students must take at least five courses in Jewish studies in order to graduate; non-Jewish students can choose general courses instead.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> These are available as academic Jewish studies courses, as well as through more traditional Torah study, offered primarily by the Machon HaGavoah LeTorah, established in the 1970s. The "Machon" operates a Kollel / Bet midrash for men,<ref>בית המדרש , mgl.org.il</ref> and a Midrasha for women.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Kollel offers traditional yeshiva studies with an emphasis on Talmud and Halakha (Jewish law), while the midrasha offers courses in "Tanakh" (The Bible), practical Halakha, and Machshavah (Jewish philosophy). The Midrasha is the largest in Israel. These programs are open to all students free of charge.

Yitzhak Rabin's convicted assassin, Yigal Amir, was a student of law and computer science at Bar-Ilan, prompting charges that the university had become a hotbed of political extremism. One of the steps taken by the university following the 1995 assassination was to encourage dialogue between left-wing and right-wing students.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Under university president Moshe Kaveh (1996–2013), Bar-Ilan underwent a major expansion, with new buildings added on the northern side of the campus. New science programs have been introduced, including a multidisciplinary brain research center <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a center for nanotechnology.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university has placed archaeology as one of its priorities, and this includes excavations such as the Tell es-Safi/Gath archaeological excavations<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the recently opened Bar-Ilan University/Weizmann Institute of Science joint program in Archaeological Sciences.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bar-Ilan's Faculty of Law made headlines in 2008 by achieving the highest average Israeli bar exam grade of 81.9 by its graduates.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Daniel Hershkowitz was university president from 2013 to 2017.<ref name="autogeneratedil"/>

Arie Zaban was elected as the president of the university in 2017.<ref name="autogeneratedil"/>

In June 2024, the university received a $260 million donation from the estate of an anonymous American donor, the largest bequest in the university's history and the second largest ever to an Israeli university. The donation is earmarked for science and technology, specifically to recruit researchers, build laboratories, and create partnerships.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Academics

Bar-Ilan University has nine faculties: Exact Sciences, Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Education, Humanities, Jewish Studies, Medicine, Engineering, and Law. There is also a special Unit of Interdisciplinary Studies. At the undergraduate level, as mentioned, ten courses in Jewish studies related subjects are required from all students.

Bar-Ilan offers several special programs, including its international B.A. program,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> taught entirely in English, and is the first university in Israel to offer a full undergraduate program taught entirely in English. Currently, students can choose between a B.A. degree in interdisciplinary social sciences,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where students can choose between a macro track in economics, political sciences, and sociology,<ref name="biuinternational1">Template:Cite web</ref> or the Micro Track in Criminology, Psychology, and Sociology,<ref name="biuinternational1"/> or a major in communications,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with a minor in either English literature or political science. The degrees are internationally recognized, and are open to students from all over the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In addition, Bar-Ilan offers a preparatory program that readies new immigrants for Israeli colleges. The university also runs a one-year overseas program called Torah Im Derech Eretz Program, which combines traditional Kollel Torah studies in the morning, separate for men and women, as well as co-ed general university studies and Jewish history classes in the afternoon. Many American students enrolled in regular programs of study in the university also take these Jewish history classes to fulfill their Jewish studies requirements.

Bar-Ilan also houses several research institutions, such as the above-mentioned Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, focused on neuroscience, which may have their own requirements.

Awards and recognition

Template:Infobox university rankings

The Bar Ilan Responsa Project was awarded the Israel Prize in 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university's Bible project, in danger of being eliminated by continued budget cuts, was saved at the last minute by an anonymous donor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In its capacity as a business school, Bar-Ilan was placed as the fourth best business school in Africa and the Middle East in the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable alumni

Template:See also

File:Tzipi Hotovely - November 2018.jpg
Tzipi Hotovely
Error creating thumbnail:
Tzipi Livni
File:Gila Gamliel.jpg
Gila Gamliel
Error creating thumbnail:
Revital Swid
File:Michal Waldiger (cropped).jpg
Michal Waldiger

Notable faculty

Template:See also

Template:Div col

Template:Div col end

See also

References

Template:Reflist

Template:Commons category

Template:Universities in Israel Template:Religious Zionism

Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Bar-Ilan_University&oldid=319977"