Jerusalem University College, founded in 1957 as the American Institute of Holy Land Studies is an undergraduate and graduate academic institution operated by a consortium of 100 American theological seminaries and Christian colleges and universities. It provides a two-year graduate program of courses leading to the degrees of M.A. in Biblical History and Geography and in Middle Eastern Cultures and Religions, a graduate or undergraduate program offering a semester or year abroad, and a variety of shorter courses.
Besides the Jerusalem campus, the school also maintains an office in the United States, in the state of Illinois.
The school's curriculum falls "within the framework of the conservative evangelical Christian thought represented by the members schools of the consortium," [1]--these schools include a wide range of Protestant traditions. It is an affiliate of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities [2]
The campus is located in Mount Zion of the Old City of Jerusalem near Jaffa Gate and right beside the Hinnom Valley. Before 1967, the school's current campus had been the grounds of the Bishop Gobat School, founded in 1853 by Samuel Gobat on unused reserve land of the Protestant Mount Zion Cemetery. Therefore the cemetery is only reached through the campus.