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The Ariel University Center of Samaria (Template:Lang-he, HaMerkaz HaUniversitai Ariel BaShomron) is the largest Israeli public college, located in the Israeli settlement of Ariel in the West Bank. The center was founded in 1982 to serve as a regional branch of Bar-Ilan University. Originally located in the settlement of Kedumim, 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 B.A, M.A, B.Sc and B.Arch studies, in three faculties and three schools. The university center contains over 12,000 students and it has and extension in Tel Aviv for studies and continuation. All of the degrees are recognized by the Council for Higher Education in Israel.

Due to the college being located in the West Bank, which is considered by some to be part of the Palestinian territories, there have been several boycotts of the college and its staff, both within Israel and internationally.

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.

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".Although Prime Minister Ehud Olmert endorsed the change, both Minister of Education Yuli Tamir and the Council for Higher Education vowed to block it, with the latter announcing in 2008 that they would not recognise degrees awarded by the college. The name change was recognised in 2010, although the college remains without university accreditation.

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."

Academic boycotts

In early 2011, 145 Israeli academics announced they were boycotting the university to protest Israeli settlement expansion. They wrote in their petition, "Ariel is not part of the sovereign territory of Israel, and we therefore cannot be required to go there." 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 of it being located in occupied territory in the West Bank. 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 was subsequently rescinded later that year in May.

Faculties and departments

• Architecture
• Faculty of Engineering
  • Civil Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering & Electronics, including advanced degrees
  • Chemical Engineering in Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering and Materials, including advanced degrees
  • Mechanical Engineering – Mechatronics
  • Industrial Engineering & Management
  • General Engineering
• Faculty of Natural Sciences
  • Molecular Biology
  • Biological Chemistry
  • Physics
  • Computer Science & Mathematics
  • Medical Physics & Imaging
• School of Health Sciences
  • Health Management
  • Physiotherapy
  • Nutrition
  • Communications Disorders
• Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities
  • Economics
  • Economics & Business Management
  • Master of Business Administration
  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Psychology
  • Sociology and Anthropology
  • School of Social Work, including advanced degrees
  • Criminology
  • Political Science
  • Israel & Middle Eastern Studies
  • Israel Heritage
  • Multidisciplinary Studies (Humanities)
• School of Communications
  • Real Estate Assessment (diploma)

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

Enrollment

Current enrollment at the university is about 11,000, including Jewish, Arab, Druze and Circassian Israeli students. As of 2010 there are 500 Israeli Arab students among the 9,000 undergraduates, making up about 6 percent of the students.

See also

• List of Israeli universities and colleges

References

1. http://www.ariel.ac.il/site/portals/english/
2. Request from Ariel College to become a university turned down Walla News, 12 July 2006
3. Justice Ministry Downgrades Ariel University to College Israel National News, 30 March 2008
4. Ariel College upgrades itself to 'university' status Haaretz, 2 August 2007
5. Education Council: We won't recognize degrees awarded by Ariel college Haaretz, 11 June 2008
6. Council for Higher Education: Ariel university status years away The Jerusalem Post, 21 January 2010
7. Hartford Courant July 16, 2010
8. Israeli Academics to Boycott Ariel University, Huffington Post, 9 January 2011.
9. Israel academics to boycott college Aljazeera English, 9 January, 2011.
10. Spain boycotts Ariel college for being in 'occupied territory' Ynetnews.com, 22 September 2009.
11. "Report to members from the AUT national council". Archived from the original on 2006-01-30. Retrieved 2005-05-22.
12. "Academics vote against Israeli boycott". London: The Guardian. 2005-05-26. Retrieved 2005-05-22.
13. Quick Facts About The Ariel University Center of Samaria
14. A study in irony Haaretz, 22 June 2005
15. Arabs Studying at ‘Settler’ College Israel Today, 18 January 2006
16. Despite Controversy, Israeli University in West Bank Attracts Arab Students. The Chronicle. November 17, 2010

External links

• Ariel University Center of Samaria

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