May 25, 2010
During the past several years, many universities across the United States have reinstated their study abroad programs in Israel. Nevertheless, there are campuses that still cite the State Department warning and continue to limit options for study abroad in Israel. The number of campuses that fall into the latter category has dropped immensely. Today, university administration and study abroad offices are working with their risk assessment and security teams to development new 21st century strategies to ensure student safety on campus and around the world.
From its inception, the ICC and its member organizations have made study abroad in Israel a priority and created a task force to deal with the topic. One of the major issues facing the task force upon its formation was the lack of reliable data on the number of schools with official study abroad programs in Israel. There was also little information as to which schools without formal programs allowed their students to study abroad and which ones did not permit study abroad in Israel. For these reasons, it was imperative to undertake research to fully understand the scope of the issue.
The information in this newly updated list of 150 schools and their study abroad in Israel policies was gathered through online research by specifically looking at each campus’s study abroad website. Researchers looked primarily to see whether Israel was listed under approved programs, if financial aid was transferable and if a waiver or petition was needed. If the information was ambiguous, a note was made in the “notes” section of the spreadsheet to contact the study abroad office for further information.
The schools chosen for the study represent a diverse range of geographic locations, Jewish population sizes and levels of national visibility. The majority of the schools are well known and respected nationally.
If you have questions or wish to add additional information, please contact Andrea Sorin, Israel Education Initiatives Associate, at 202-449-6583 or
asorin@israelcc.org.
The report can be downloaded in an Excel format:
150 Schools List (Excel file 29 Kb)