The University of California announced Nov. 25 that its study abroad programs to Israel will be reinstated, overturning the system’s 2002 decision to suspend such programs due to safety concerns.
After a review of security issues, the 10-campus U.C. system started working with the Rothberg International School at Hebrew University of Jerusalem to re-establish its Education Abroad Program (EAP) for fall 2009. The hope is to have students enrolled for studies during the 2009-10 school year by next summer.
Acknowledging this review, Michael Cowan, U.C.’s acting EAP executive director said, “It is in the best interest of our students [for U.C.] to once again provide educational opportunities in Israel.”
He continued: “In today’s richly interconnected global economy, a study abroad program at Hebrew University of Jerusalem would provide a unique academic and cultural opportunity for U.C. students.”
Gordon Gladstone, the executive director of U.C. Berkeley Hillel, echoed Cowan’s remarks.
“This will allow students to take advantage of studying and learning in the state of Israel, which will be a huge boon to their Jewish identity and the Jewish community,” he said.
The announcement came just months after new U.C. President Mark Yudof, an observant Jew and legal scholar, em-barked on an intense, nine-day trip to Israel with a group of university chancellors and presidents. One of the main goals of the trip was to encourage collaboration and academic exchange between American and Israeli faculty and students.
Upon his return, Yudof said he would re-evaluate the system’s policy regarding the study abroad program in Israel.
Six years ago, heeding a travel warning from the U.S. Department of State, the U.C. system scrapped its study abroad program in Israel. Other universities taking similar action at some point included Connecticut, North-western, Duke, Colorado, Michigan and Indiana.
After the U.C. decision in 2002, students wanting to study in Israel had to find other study abroad programs, often forcing them out of the U.C. system, jeopardizing their financial aid and leading to forfeited course credits.
Last June, former U.C. provost Wyatt Hume announced policy changes that gave students easier access to non-U.C.-based study abroad programs in Israel, though the U.C.’s EAP remained suspended.
On Nov. 20, the U.C. Academic Senate’s Committee on International Education approved the academic plan for the program at Hebrew University. In the meantime, Cowan is shoring up many of the program’s details, including how the application process will be administered.
Yitzhak Santis, director of the Middle East Project with the S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council, applauded the reinstatement of the EAP program.
“Students who go to Israel, regardless of what they study, will see first-hand Israel’s relations and understand the context of the [Mideast] conflict much better,” Santis said. “There’s nothing like direct experience with Israel’s language, culture and politics.”