| Hebrew University of Jerusalem | |
|---|---|
| האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים | |
| Established | 1918 |
| Type | Public |
| President | Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson |
| Rector | Prof. Sarah Stroumsa |
| Academic staff | 1,200 |
| Students | 22,000 |
| Undergraduates | 12,000 |
| Postgraduates | 10,000 |
| Location | Jerusalem and Rehovot, Israel |
| Nickname | Hebrew U, HUJI, |
| Affiliations | UNIMED |
| Website | huji.ac.il/huji/eng/index_e.htm |
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Hebrew: האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים, (ha-Universita ha-Ivrit B'irushalayim); Arabic: الجامعة العبرية في القدس (al-Ǧāmiʻah al-ʻIbriyyah fil-Quds); abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot.[1] The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J. Safra Givat Ram campus.
The First Board of Governors included Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Martin Buber, and Chaim Weizmann. Four of Israel's prime ministers are alumni of the Hebrew University. In the last decade, seven graduates of the University received the Nobel Prize or the Fields Medal.
According to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, Hebrew University is ranked the top university in Israel, and the 57th-best university in the world.[2]
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One of the visions of the Zionist movement was the establishment of a Jewish university in the Land of Israel. Founding a university was proposed as far back as 1884 in the Kattowitz (Katowice) conference of the Hovevei Zion society.
The cornerstone for the university was laid on July 24, 1918. Seven years later, on April 1, 1925, the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus was opened at a gala ceremony attended by the leaders of the Jewish world, distinguished scholars and public figures, and British dignitaries, including the Earl of Balfour, Viscount Allenby and Sir Herbert Samuel. The University's first Chancellor was Judah Magnes.
By 1947, the University had become a large research and teaching institution. Plans for a medical school were approved in May 1949, and in November 1949, a faculty of law was inaugurated. In 1952, it was announced that the agricultural institute founded by the University in 1940 would become a full-fledged faculty.[3]
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, attacks were carried out against convoys moving between the Israeli-controlled section of Jerusalem and the University.[4] The leader of the Arab forces in Jerusalem, Abdul Kader Husseini, threatened military action against the university Hadassah Hospital "if the Jews continued to use them as bases for attacks."[5] After the Hadassah medical convoy massacre, in which 79 doctors and nurses were murdered, the Mount Scopus campus was cut off from Jerusalem.[6]
When the Jordan government denied Israeli access to Mount Scopus, a new campus was built at Givat Ram in western Jerusalem and completed in 1958. In the interim, classes were held in 40 different buildings around the city.[7]
The Terra Sancta building in Rehavia, rented from the Franciscan Custodians of the Latin Holy Places, was also used for this purpose.[8] A few years later, together with the Hadassah Medical Organization, a medical science campus was built in the south-west Jerusalem neighborhood of Ein Kerem.
By the beginning of 1967, the students numbered 12,500, spread among the two campuses in Jerusalem and the agricultural faculty in Rehovot. After the unification of Jerusalem, following the Six-Day War of June 1967, the University was able to return to Mount Scopus, which was rebuilt. In 1981 the construction work was completed, and Mount Scopus again became the main campus of the University.
On July 31, 2002, a member of a terrorist cell detonated a bomb during lunch hour at the University's "Frank Sinatra" cafeteria when it was crowded with staff and students. Nine people — five Israelis, three Americans, and one dual French-American citizen — were killed and more than 70 wounded. World leaders, including Kofi Annan, President Bush, and the President of the European Union issued statements of condemnation.[9][10]
Mount Scopus (Hebrew: Har HaTzofim הר הצופים), in the north-eastern part of Jerusalem, is home to the Faculties of Humanities, Social Sciences, Law, Jerusalem School of Business Administration, Bearwald School of Social Work, Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Rothberg International School, and the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies.
The Rothberg International School features secular studies and Jewish/Israeli studies. Included for foreign students is also a mandatory Ulpan program for Hebrew language study which includes a mandatory course in Israeli culture and customs. All Rothberg Ulpan classes are taught by Israeli natives. However, many other classes at the Rothberg School are taught by Jewish immigrants to Israel.
The land on Mt. Scopus was purchased before World War I from Sir John Gray-Hill, along with the Gray-Hill mansion.[11] The master plan for the university was designed by Patrick Geddes and his son-in-law, Frank Mears in December 1919. Only three buildings of this original design were built: The Wolfson National Library, the Mathematics Institute, and the Physics Institute.[11]
Housing for students at Hebrew University who live on Mount Scopus is located at the three dormitories located near the university. These are the Maiersdorf (מאירסדורף) dormitories, the Bronfman (ברונפמן) dormitories, and the Kfar HaStudentim (כפר הסטודנטים, the students' village).
Nearby is the Nicanor Cave, an ancient cave which was planned to be a national pantheon.
The Givat Ram campus, named for Edmond Safra, is the home of the Faculty of Science including the Einstein Institute of Mathematics; the Institute of Advanced Studies, the Center for the Study of Rationality, as well as the Jewish National and University Library.
The Faculties of Medicine and Dental Medicine and The Institute for Medical Research, Israel-Canada (IMRIC) are located at the south-western Jerusalem Ein Kerem campus alongside the Hadassah-University Medical Center.
The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and the Environment[12] and the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine[13] are located in the city of Rehovot in the coastal plain. The Faculty was established in 1942 and the School of Veterinary Medicine opened in 1985. These are the only institutions of higher learning in Israel that offer both teaching and research programs in their respective fields.
The Jewish National and University Library is the central and largest library of the Hebrew University and one of the most impressive book and manuscript collections in the world. It is also the oldest section of the university. Founded in 1892 as a world center for the preservation of books relating to Jewish thought and culture, it assumed the additional functions of a general university library in 1920. Its collections of Hebraica and Judaica are the largest in the world. It houses all materials published in Israel, and attempts to acquire all materials published in the world related to the country. It possesses over five million books and thousands of items in special sections, many of which are unique. Among these are the Albert Einstein Archives, Hebrew manuscripts department, Eran Laor map collection, Edelstein science collection, Gershom Scholem collection, and a collection of Maimonides' manuscripts and early writings.
In his will, Albert Einstein left the Hebrew University his personal papers and the intellectual copyright to them, as well as the right to use his image. The Albert Einstein Archives contain some 55,000 items.[14]
In addition to the National Library, the Hebrew University operates subject-based libraries on its campuses, among them the Avraham Harman Science Library, Safra, Givat Ram; Mathematics and Computer Science Library, Safra, Givat Ram; Earth Sciences Library, Safra, Givat Ram; Muriel and Philip I. Berman National Medical Library, Ein Kerem; Central Library of Agricultural Science, Rehovot; Bloomfield Library for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Mt. Scopus; Bernard G. Segal Law Library Center, Mt. Scopus; Emery and Claire Yass Library of the Institute of Archaeology, Mt. Scopus; Moses Leavitt Library of Social Work, Mt. Scopus; Zalman Aranne Central Education Library, Mt. Scopus; Library of the Rothberg School for International Students, Mt. Scopus; Roberta and Stanley Bogen Library of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Mt. Scopus; and the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive.
The Hebrew University libraries and their web catalogs can be accessed through the HUJI Library Authority portal.
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