Bar-Ilan University’s student body has changed substantially over the past three years. In addition to the traditional Israeli students, we now have international students from around 60 countries who participate in student life on campus in a variety of ways, including studying and conducting research together. Living on campus has also created new student interactions, which have enabled connections that have enhanced the lives of the students.
This is the result and, in turn, the benefit of creating a dedicated International School to help and support international students. The school has improved and enhanced multiculturalism through celebrating holidays (religious and cultural) together, which gives Israeli students the opportunity to see what happens in other countries and enables international students to get to know Israel’s customs and traditions.
As the school has grown, the services and systems have become more sophisticated, more refined, more streamlined. As an example, we realized there was a huge difference between undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students apart from the level of studies. Each student has different needs. The age gaps are significant and the stages of life are more noticeable. While an 18-year-old undergraduate student has no major responsibilities, many postgrads have their families with them on campus. We have learned that we need to provide different services and activities for the different students.
These lessons and others we have picked up along the way have allowed us to plan social programs and events to suit our students. We have created an environment that makes students want to study and conduct their research here, but also to learn about Israel and Israeli culture.
We defined our goals early on in the establishment of the International School and we realize that it is an ongoing process that continues to develop in every area. We may need to set new goals as time moves on, but these goals have served us well and our success speaks for itself.
However, while we have achieved so much in so many areas over the past three years, we are always hungry to take things further.
In this newsletter, you’ll find two articles that focus on the International School, which celebrates its third anniversary this month. The first focuses on what went into establishing the school and our goal to create impact through globalization, while the second looks at how we are increasing our competitive edge through new graduate degrees, research opportunities, exchange programs, and collaborations.
We hope you enjoy a bit of history while discovering how far we’ve come and where we are heading.
All the best.
Prof. Moshe Lewenstein
Deputy President
Bar-Ilan University
