Bar Ilan University In Israel

Programs: First and foremost, bar-ilan university is an institute of higher learning offering bachelor's degree studies, master's degree studies and ph. D. Degree studies to students from around the world. Teaching and research at bar-ilan university are organized within the framework of eight faculties, as listed below: 1. The faculty of jewish studies (which includes the contemporary judaism study program that is currently included within the framework of the faculty of jewish studies and the interdisciplinary studies committee). 2. The faculty of medicine 3. The faculty of law 4. The faculty of social sciences 5. The faculty of exact sciences 6. The faculty of engineering 7. The faculty of life sciences 8. The faculty of humanities the university adheres to its quest for scientific and intellectual excellence. The academic leadership continued to work on encouraging research, improving the academic quality of the departments, promoting teaching and recruiting new staff members, including outstanding scientists returning from abroad and new immigrant scientists - through the implementation of the departmental target model and the 'growth programs' in liberal arts and experimental sciences. Research students and researchers won scholarships and grants, and contributed to the expansion of human knowledge in all fields. The university continued to pursue activities aimed at encouraging university enrollment while raising the bar for admission, absorbing outstanding candidates, and enriching the study programs offered to students. Comprehensive efficiency programs were carried out in all areas of academic administration in order to achieve optimal utilization of academic resources.

research and interdisciplinary studies university researchers participate in six centers of excellence: 1. Brain sciences 2. Nanotechnology 3. Hermeneutics and cultural studies program 4. Conflict management and negotiation 5. Science, technology and society 6. Gender studies these centers enable the absorption of new faculty members and the development of important research areas. 1. Brain sciences: the leslie and susan gonda (goldschmied) multidisciplinary brain research center at bar-ilan university brings together researchers in a variety of fields which are essential to understanding the brain, including psychology, physics, linguistics, computing and biology. Research at the gonda center studies the brain at all levels - from behavior and cognitive processing through detailed mechanisms of information processing in neural circuits, to the analysis of vital molecules within nerve cells. Research approaches cover all techniques from personal interviews, through electro physiology and from molecular biology to abstract mathematical modeling. The gonda center attracts new, top-flight researchers from israel and around the world. 2. Nanotechnology bar ilan's institute for nanotechnology and advanced materials (bina) is a dynamic and growing scientific community. At bina, a renowned research staff including a large number of young faculty members recruited from abroad educate israel's next generation of nanoscience professionals, while collaborating with academic and industrial experts on nano-based approaches to energy, magnetism, optics, clean tech and biomedicine. Bina boasts 40 cutting-edge laboratories as well as state-of-the art "scientific service" facilities for electron microscopy, nanofabrication, surface analysis, fluorescence, and magnetic measurement, all of which are available for use by the wider scientific community. Bina offers a comprehensive set of educational frameworks, including phd and ma studies, and a selective program for biu undergraduates majoring in the sciences. Bina graduates have gone on to post-doctoral positions in prestigious academic institutions, and hold key positions in israel's science-based industries. 3. Hermeneutics and cultural studies program the program for hermeneutics and cultural studies was founded in 1999 and was the first academic program in israel to offer graduate studies in hermeneutics and culture. Like similar programs founded in europe and the usa, the program houses under the same roof scholars whose intellectual interest lies in the meeting of different disciplines of knowledge and theoretical and hermeneutical tools. The presumption of this new field of knowledge is that there is effectively nothing which cannot be interpreted and studied as a cultural phenomenon. The concept of culture appears here in a new context - not just the activity traditionally regarded as high culture (art, literature or music) but the whole ensemble of human activities organized around language, institutions and practices. 4. Conflict management and negotiation launched in 2000, the conflict resolution, management and negotiation (crmn) graduate program is part of the interdisciplinary studies unit at biu. The program awards masters and phd degrees (in hebrew), sponsors research, conflict resolution training programs and international conferences, and operates a mediation center. The program recently launched the religion and conflict resolution masters track, and publishes the international journal of conflict engagement and resolution. The program's distinguished faculty merge theory and practice in an interdisciplinary manner. Students come from all walks of israeli jewish, muslim and christian societies. Together faculty and students examine the utility of models and techniques in negotiation, diplomacy and conflict resolution training in a wide range of issues of central importance to israeli society and internationally. The crmn program has a theoretical emphasis on identity-based conflict and primarily concentrates on three fields: international and regional conflicts, dialogue and conflict resolution in israel, as well as interpersonal and community mediation, adr (alternative disoute resolution), restorative justice and conflict resolution techniques. 5. Science, technology and society the graduate program in science, technology and society at bar ilan invites students to take part in an intellectual adventure, studying science and technology with rigor and creativity, from a perspective that incorporates many disciplines: history, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, literary criticism, critical theory, and much more. Our students gain the tools needed to understand science, technology and medicine from a broad and critical perspective. Our faculty appreciates the majesty of contemporary scientific achievements as well as its storied history, which are a great tribute to human ingenuity, yet we also appreciate the complicated, ambivalent, and sometimes dangerous ways in which science, technology and society interact. 6. Gender studies the interdisciplinary program in gender studies was founded in 2000 by the late prof. Dafna izraeli. It is an advanced degree program, aimed to train cutting edge academics and professionals in this field. Gender studies focus on the nature and experience of gender identity among women and men, and the construct of cultural differences between the sexes. The underlying assumption is that gender influences all areas of an individuals social, political, and cultural activity and constitutes a central structural factor in the social order. The bar-ilan gender program includes two tracks of specialization: research and field activity. Students undergo comprehensive education in gender perspectives on judaism, culture, literature and research methods, in addition to core courses on feminist theory. In the field track students also acquire feminist practices to help promote women in field organizations. A unique aspect of the bar-ilan program is its inclusion of discourse on judaic studies and its' complex relationship with feminist ideology. We view this interface of gender and judaic studies as a central feature of our program and we are currently working on developing a curriculum for a third specialty research track on gender and judaism.