Is Israel the Holy Grail of study?

Going to university is a formative experience. So is spending an extended period in Israel. For some, combining the two by studying at an Israeli institution makes for a very special time indeed.

That was certainly the case for Sammy Garfinkel. A longtime member of Bnei
Akiva when growing up in north-west London, Garfinkel also took a gap year
in Israel and knew he wanted to make aliyah at some point. “My original plan
was do university back home, then move to Israel, because I didn’t really see a
future for myself in England anyway,” he says.

It’s a conclusion to which more and more young people are coming. With his parents insistent he got a degree before joining the army, Garfinkel ended up going to university and making aliyah at the same time. He moved in summer last year and is currently at Bar-Ilan University, a research-led university near Tel Aviv, where he reads computer science. It is among the Israeli institutions British students might consider attending.

Tel Aviv University is the highest-ranked Israeli higher education institution, placed in the top 250 globally by Times Higher Education, while the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Technion are both in the top 350. This is no mean
feat, given the number of US, British and Chinese universities they are competing
against.

The success of Israeli universities speaks to the kind of importance the country places on them. The Technion, for example, is deeply embedded in Israel’s start-up ecosystem. It considers itself right at the heart of the Startup Nation, and with good reason. Seven firms founded or led by former Technion students were named among the most exciting in the country at Calcalist’s Tech Independence event last May. It offers programmes to help bring the work beyond academia. Aaron Ciechanover and Dan Shechtman, the 2004 and 2011 winners of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry respectively, are among its famous alumni.

Garfinkel explained that his course started in English before teaching transitioned to Hebrew. The language barrier may be off-putting for some Brits thinking of studying in Israel. An option for them might be Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. With campuses in Be’er Sheva, Sde Boker and Eilat, it offers English-language courses taught alongside Israeli students – providing both academic immersion and an authentic cultural experience – along with opportunities ranging from summer courses to post-doc work.

There is also Reichman University, the first private, non-profit higher education
establishment in Israel. Located in Herzliya, 2,000 of its 8,400 students come from more than 90 countries. The university says “the myriad graduates who have established themselves in professional, business and public service roles are proof of our success”.

Not all Israeli universities are connected to large cities, though. For instance,
under two miles from the Gaza border is Sapir College, one of Israel’s largest public colleges, which puts a significant focus on diversity and inclusion.
Given its location, October 7 had a profound effect on the college, with 47 alumni, students, faculty and staff connected to it killed. Furthermore, Omri Miran, the partner of Lishay Lavi Miran, who directs the pre-army Mechina programs at Sapir, remains among the hostages held in Gaza.

Diversity matters too. Achva College brands itself as “where culture sensitivity
meets science and innovation”. Another institution in the south of Israel, it prides
itself on being deeply connected to the region in which it is found, one of the poorest in the country. It also focuses on having a diverse cohort, with 37 percent
of students Bedouin from the Negev.

The diversity that can be found at an Israeli university was noted by Josie Turgill Clarke, who trained and worked as a radiographer in the NHS before doing a Master’s in public health at the University of Haifa in 2021. There, she had an array of non-Jewish classmates from all diff erent backgrounds. Now back in the UK, she remains close to some of the non-Jewish peers she studied alongside, including a best friend from East Jerusalem. Turgill Clarke reflects that “it was really nice to be in Israel and these different walks of life”.

As she was under 30, the Aliyah Ministry paid for Turgill Clarke’s course. This
financial support is a benefit Garfinkel also noted as significant. The Aliyah Ministry puts 1,500 NIS (£327) towards his accommodation costs each month.
There can be no doubt that the country is looking for ways to attract the best and
the brightest. While both Turgill Clarke and Garfinkel have enjoyed the diversity
encountered at Israeli universities, they also found comfort in being in the Jewish
state, with the terms built around key festivals. This was important for Garfinkel, who is Modern Orthodox and was inspired to make aliyah due to his faith. Turgill Clarke, too, says “it was nice to be in that environment” with Jewish holidays observed.

Making aliyah is an upheaval. However, going to study can make things a bit smoother. “It was nice to arrive and have a purpose,” says Turgill Clarke. “There’s definitely structure here,” says Garfinkel.

In the UK, Jewish students have been made to feel increasingly uncomfortable as the war with Hamas has gone on, having to walk past encampments and protests. Community Security Trust (CST) recorded 272 university-related antisemitic incidents in the 2023/24 academic year. Between January and June 2024, there were 98 antisemitic incidents affecting Jewish students, academics and universities, according to the CST’s recent antisemitic incidents report. It found 21 of such incidents “contained rhetoric referencing Israel and the war”.

The number of incidents was down to 35 in the same six-month period this year.
However, this is still double what it was in the first half of 2023, before Hamas
committed its atrocities and the current war began. It is, therefore, not entirely
surprising that some Jewish students might feel more comfortable studying in
Israel, where they do not have to worry about being subjected to such abuse or
even just a casual hurtful comment.

In the UK, we are blessed with several world-class universities, some of which
have thriving Jewish communities. But there is no doubt that academia in Israel
is a compelling option for some.