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Bar-Ilan University

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"Bar-Ilan" redirects here. For other uses, see Bar-Ilan (disambiguation).

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 university institution. It has 20,000 students and 1,350 faculty members.[3]

Bar-Ilan University
אוניברסיטת בר-אילן (Hebrew)
Other name
BIU
MottoImpacting tomorrow, today
TypePublic research
Established1955
PresidentArie Zaban
RectorAmnon Albeck
PrincipalZohar Yinon
Administrative staff
1,250
Students20,000
2,200+
Location
Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District
,
Israel

32°4′4″N 34°50′33″E / 32.06778°N 34.84250°E / 32.06778; 34.84250
CampusUrban
Colors    Dark green and sky blue
Websitewww.biu.ac.il
Academic rankings
Global
QS[1]= 671-680
THE[2]501-600
Aerial view of Bar-Ilan University
Anna & Max Webb and Family Psychology Building at the Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

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."[4] The university is among the best in the Middle East in the fields of computer science, engineering, engineering physics and applied physics.[5][6] In 2024, the university was donated $260 million, one of the biggest donations to a university in Israeli history.[7]

History

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Bar-Ilan's first graduation ceremony in 1959
 
Wengrowsky Family Lookout and Visitors' Center a.k.a. Lev HaCampus (lit. heart of the campus)
 
Bar-Ilan Faculty of engineering
 
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.[8] When it was opened in 1955, it was described by The New York Times "as Cultural Link Between the [Israeli] Republic and America".[9] 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).[8]

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.

At least five courses in Jewish studies are required for graduation (Non-Jewish students can choose general courses instead).[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" (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.[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.[8]

Arie Zaban was elected as the president of the university in 2017.[8]

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.[20]

Academics

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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,[21] 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,[22] where students can choose between a macro track in economics, political sciences, and sociology,[23] or the Micro Track in Criminology, Psychology, and Sociology,[23] or a major in communications,[24] 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.[25]

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

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The Bar Ilan Responsa Project was awarded the Israel Prize in 2007.[26] The university's Bible project, in danger of being eliminated by continued budget cuts, was saved at the last minute by an anonymous donor.[27]

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.[28]

Notable alumni

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See also: Category:Bar-Ilan University alumni
 
Tzipi Hotovely
 
Tzipi Livni
 
Gila Gamliel
 
Revital Swid
 
Michal Waldiger
 
Orit Peleg

Notable faculty

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See also: Category:Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University
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  •  
    Faculty of engineering
  •  
    Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center
  •  
    Centre for the study of philosophy, ethics and Jewish thought
  •  
    Nanotechnology building
  •  
    Bar-Ilan Faculty of Medicine
  •  
    Bar-Ilan Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "QS World University Rankings 2025". Quacquarelli Symonds. 4 June 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  2. ^ "World University Rankings 2024". Times Higher Education. 27 September 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Bar-Ilan University - BIU". www.biu.ac.il. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  4. ^ Higher Education in Israel: Bar-Ilan University, Jewish Virtual Library
  5. ^ "Bar-Ilan University [2023 Rankings by topic]". EduRank.org - Discover university rankings by location. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  6. ^ "Israel's best Applied/Engineering Physics universities [Rankings]". EduRank.org - Discover university rankings by location. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  7. ^ "Transformative gift of $260 million to Bar-Ilan University is one of the largest bequests ever to an Israeli university". www.biu.ac.il. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d "Bar-Ilan Presidents | Bar-Ilan University". .biu.ac.il. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Bar-Ilan University". Biu.ac.il. 10 May 1955. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  10. ^ "B.A Requirements 2017 and forth | School for Basic Jewish Studies". yesod.biu.ac.il. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  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 (12 April 2011). "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 29 September 2011.
  16. ^ "Center for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. Bar-Ilan University". Nanocenter.biu.ac.il. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  17. ^ "The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project". Dig-gath.org. Archived from the original on 19 April 2009. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  18. ^ "Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science". Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  19. ^ "Results of the Bar Exam 5.5.08 (Hebrew)" (PDF). Israelbar.org.il. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  20. ^ Ilan, Shahar (3 June 2024). "Bar Ilan University receives 1B shekel anonymous donation to promote Deep Tech research". Calcalist. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  21. ^ "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 30 October 2013.
  22. ^ "Interdisciplinary Social Sciences – BIU InternationalInternational B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University". Biuinternational.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  23. ^ a b "Academic Tracks in the Social Sciences – BIU InternationalInternational B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University". Biuinternational.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  24. ^ "International B.A. Program in Communication – BIU InternationalInternational B.A. Programs: Bar-Ilan University". Biuinternational.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  25. ^ "Bar-Ilan University". BIU. Archived from the original on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  26. ^ "The Bar Ilan Responsa Project (Global Jewish Database)". Digento.de. 18 November 2002. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  27. ^ Ilani, Ofri (2 April 2008). "Bar-Ilan University Bible project". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  28. ^ "Top Business Schools". TopMBA.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  29. ^ "ISA :: Ms.Anat Guetta". www.isa.gov.il. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  30. ^ [1][dead link‍]
  31. ^ "Tamar Ross". Academia.edu. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
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