The Ministry of Negev and Galilee Development presented its plan for a multi-campus university in the Galilee to the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee. The plan is a revival of an old idea, first conceived by the Jewish Agency in the 1990s and then raised by the cabinet in 2005, and rejected by the Committee for Higher Education in August 2006, which concluded that there was need for another university in Israel in the next five years.
The Ministry of Negev and Galilee Development says that the five years are up, and that the time has come to revive the idea of a Galilee university. According to the ministry, there is no university in the north, which has 1.25 million residents, whereas there are two universities in each of the Tel Aviv District (with 1.2 million residents) and in the Haifa District (with 893,000 residents).
Minister of Negev and Galilee Development Silvan Shalom says that on the basis of the five-year plan that colleges in the Galilee submitted to the Committee for Higher Education, an investment of NIS 140 million is needed to upgrade the colleges to turn them into a multi-campus university, similar to other universities in the world, such as City University of New York. The Galilee has six colleges: Safed Academic College, Kinneret College, Tel Hai Academic College, the Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yezreel, the Western Galilee College, and ORT Braude College.
The proposed plan calls for initially upgrading Tel Hai Academic College, ORT Braude College, and the Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yezreel, followed by the other colleges later. Each college will focus on different degrees.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 25, 2011
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