JEWISH AGENCY TO BRING STUDENTS FROM NEW ORLEANS TO STUDY IN ISRAEL

Tulane University in New Orleans with an enrollment of thousands of students has been flooded as a result of Hurricane Katrina. All Israeli Universities have responded positively to this Jewish Agency initiative and will accept students by an accelerated procedure for the new academic year. Thousands of students including 2,000 Jewish students from the disaster stricken New Orleans area will be able to continue their studies in Israel as part of an initiative of the Jewish Agency for them to study in English in programs for overseas students offered by Israeli universities. In co-operation with Hillel – The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life and the United Jewish Communities (UJC) – The Federations of North America, the Jewish Agency has approached all the Jewish Communities in America with the goal of locating students at Tulane University to offer them the alternative opportunity of studying in Israel. Tulane University has been flooded and courses are cancelled. The offer to come study in Israel has been extended to all denominations. This week all Israeli Universities (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Haifa University. Bar Ilan University, Ben Gurion University) responded positively to the request of the Jewish Agency to expedite the registration of students from New Orleans wishing to study in Israel. Courses are taught in English and Hebrew Language Learning courses (Ulpan) will also be made available. The existing programs will be expanded so as to accommodate as many applicants as possible. As of today contact has been made with many students from the New Orleans area and 20 students have already shown interest in coming to study in Israel. The Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Zeev Bielski said: „This is first and foremost an initiative which stems from the comradeship and shared destiny between the citizens of Israel and the citizens of the USA. In addition to the academic gain, we are sure that the time spent in Israel will afford these students a meaningful experience for the rest of their lives and they will quickly become the best ambassadors for the State of Israel in the world”. BPI-info