Arutz Sheva met with faculty and students at the Ariel University
Center in the Shomron (Samaria), after it the Judea and Samaria
Council for Higher Education (CHE-JS) decided to accept the education
facility as a full-fledged university.
The CHE-JS decided to accept Ariel as a university despite a
recommendation by the Committee for Planning and Budgeting in the
Council for Higher Education (CHE) not to grant the Ariel University
Center full university status until next year. The decision was
hailed as a victory for nationalists, especially because left-wing
leaders expressed horror at the idea of a university existing in
Samaria.
“We have mixed feelings about the decision,” said Professor Yossi
Pinhasi, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the Ariel University
Center in Samaria. “On the one hand we really like this decision but,
as we always say, we’ve been acting as a university over the years so
this decision just makes it formal.”
He said that the recognition as a university will allow Masters and
PhD students to receive more scholarships, adding, “This decision
will enable participation in conferences abroad and will also allow
presentations of the students’ work in conferences around the world.”
In addition to opposition to the recognition from the left side of
the political map, other opponents have said their objections are
based on financial and academic positions.
“There are two parts to the objection to us becoming a university,”
said Prof. Pinhasi. “First of all there’s an objection because we are
in Judea and Samaria, and this is a political objection. The second
part is because the existing universities are opposed to having
another university in the area. This is why, for 40 years, no new
universities have been added to Israel.”
He added, “This institute is a Zionist one. Its mission is to be an
institute in Judea and Samaria and contribute to the settlement here.”
