Bar-Ilan University

Bar-Ilan University (BIU, Hebrew: אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, 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 institution. It has 18,000 students and 1,350 faculty members.

"Bar-Ilan" redirects here. For other uses, see Bar-Ilan (disambiguation).
Bar-Ilan University
אוניברסיטת בר-אילן  (Hebrew)
Other name
BIU
MottoTradition of Excellence
TypePublic research
Established1955
PresidentArie Zaban
RectorMiriam Faust
PrincipalZohar Yinon
Vice-PresidentsMoshe Lewenstein
Shulamit Michaeli
Sharon Goldman
Administrative staff
1,250
Students18,000
1,000+
Location
Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District
,
Israel

32°4′4″N 34°50′33″E
CampusUrban
Colors    Dark Green and Sky Blue
Websitewww.biu.ac.il
Academic rankings
National
ARWU[1] 5–6
Global
ARWU[2] 401–500
QS[3] 551-560
THE[4] 501–600
Aerial view of Bar-Ilan University
Anna & Max Webb and Family Psychology Building at the Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

The university aims to "blend tradition with modern technologies and scholarship, and teach the compelling ethics of Jewish heritage to all … to synthesize the ancient and modern, the sacred and the material, the spiritual and the scientific".[5]

History
First Bar-Ilan graduation, 1959
Wengerovsky Center at Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan Faculty of engineering
Nanotechnology building
Bar-Ilan Faculty of Medicine
Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
Centre for the study of philosophy, ethics and Jewish thought
Machon 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.[6] When it was opened in 1955, it was described by The New York Times "as Cultural Link Between the [Israeli] Republic and America".[7] 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).[6]

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.

The founders of the university hoped to produce alumni committed to Jewish religious tradition, Zionist ideology, and science. In 1965, the professors and lecturers were all religious Jews, as were the majority of students. Yosef Burg, one of the prominent leaders of the religious Zionist movement, warned that admission of too many non-religious into the university could undermine its character: "If you spill too much water into a wine bottle, you will have no wine."

Today, the student population includes secular and non-Jewish students, including Arabs. In hiring senior academic staff, the university used to give preference to religious Jews, although this is no longer true, and the faculty includes many secular Jewish members, and also Arab faculty, such as Dr. Manal Totry-Jubran [8] Associate Professor at the Law faculty, and Professor Johnny Younis, [9] Vice Dean, Faculty of Medicine.

At least ten courses in Jewish studies are required for graduation. [10] 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,[11] and a midrasha for women. [12] The kollel offers traditional yeshiva studies with an emphasis on Talmud and Halakha (Jewish law), while the midrasha offers courses in Tanakh, 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.[13][14]

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 [15] and a center for nanotechnology.[16] The university has placed archaeology as one of its priorities, and this includes excavations such as the Tell es-Safi/Gath archaeological excavations[17] and the recently opened Bar-Ilan University/Weizmann Institute of Science joint program in Archaeological Sciences.[18]

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.[19] Daniel Hershkowitz was university President from 2013 to 2017.[6]

During Operation Protective Edge in 2014, the university allowed 30 of Dr. Uri Weiss’ students to switch out of his course after they accused him of being an extreme leftist and said they didn’t want to study with him.[20]

In 2016, the university became the center of controversy over women's rights. The university announced it would allow women to read passages of text and play musical instruments at its Holocaust Remembrance Day, but would bar women from singing in order not to offend Orthodox Jewish males. Other organizations, such as Ne'emanei Torah Va'Avodah, protested that it is an Israeli custom to sing at national ceremonies, and that "extreme" Jewish religious law should not be imposed on the general public.[21]

Arie Zaban became the President of the university in 2017.[6]

Academics

Bar-Ilan University has eight faculties: Exact Sciences, Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, Jewish Studies, Medicine, Engineering, and Law. There are also 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,[22] 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,[23] where students can choose between a macro track in economics, political sciences, and sociology,[24] or the Micro Track in Criminology, Psychology, and Sociology,[24] or a major in communications,[25] 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.[26]

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 Tochnit Torah Im Derech Eretz, 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 Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, focused on neuroscience.

Awards and recognition

The Bar Ilan Responsa Project was awarded the Israel Prize in 2007.[27] The university's Bible project, in danger of being eliminated by continued budget cuts, was saved at the last minute by an anonymous donor.[28]

In its capacity as a business school, Bar-Ilan was placed as the 4th best business school in Africa and the Middle East in the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report.[29]

Notable alumni
Tzipi Hotovely
Gila Gamliel
Tzipi Livni

Notable faculty

See also

References
  1. "Academic Ranking of World Universities 2020: National/Regional Rank". Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  2. "Academic Ranking of World Universities 2020". Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  3. "QS World University Rankings 2022". Quacquarelli Symonds. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  4. "World University Rankings 2021". Times Higher Education. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  5. "Bar-Ilan Mission". Biu.ac.il. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  6. "Bar-Ilan Presidents | Bar Ilan University". .biu.ac.il. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  7. "Bar-Ilan University". Biu.ac.il. May 10, 1955. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  8. Dr. Manal Totry-Jubran, law.biu.ac.il
  9. Prof. Johnny Younis, medicine.biu.ac.il
  10. לימודי יסוד ביהדות, biu.ac.il
  11. בית המדרש , mgl.org.il
  12. "Midrasha | Bar-Ilan University". midrasha.biu.ac.il.
  13. Wagner, Matthew. "Bar-Ilan again forced to deal with the extremists in its midst". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  14. Kalman, Matthew. "A Bitter Return to Politics at Israel's Bar-Ilan U." The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  15. "Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University". Biu.ac.il. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  16. "Center for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. Bar-Ilan University". Nanocenter.biu.ac.il. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  17. "The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project". Dig-gath.org. Archived from the original on April 19, 2009. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  18. "Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science". Archived from the original on August 29, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  19. "Results of the Bar Exam 5.5.08 (Hebrew)" (PDF). Israelbar.org.il. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  20. Skop, Yarden (14 July 2016). "Israeli University Reneges on Letting Students Skip Settler Critic's Exam". Haaretz. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  21. Bar-Ilan Univ. bans women singing in memorial ceremony The Jerusalem Post, May 4, 2016
  22. "International B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University | Israel's premier university for Olim and Overseas students!International B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University | Israel's premier university for Olim and Overseas students!". Biuinternational.com. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
  23. "Interdisciplinary Social Sciences - BIU InternationalInternational B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University". Biuinternational.com. Archived from the original on 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
  24. "Academic Tracks in the Social Sciences - BIU InternationalInternational B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University". Biuinternational.com. Archived from the original on 2013-11-03. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
  25. "International B.A. Program in Communication - BIU InternationalInternational B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University". Biuinternational.com. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
  26. "Bar-Ilan University". BIU. Archived from the original on 2009-09-15. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
  27. "The Bar Ilan Responsa Project (Global Jewish Database)". Digento.de. November 18, 2002. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  28. Ilani, Ofri (April 2, 2008). "Bar-Ilan University Bible project". Haaretz.com. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  29. "Top Business Schools". TopMBA.com. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  30. "ISA :: Ms.Anat Guetta". www.isa.gov.il. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  32. "Tamar Ross". Academia.edu. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
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