(NAI) View of Nazareth Academic Institution (NAI) in Nazareth, Galilee, Israel
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATIONJune 14, 2010
By Matthew Kalman
Nazareth, Israel
After a decade-long struggle for official recognition, Israel's first comprehensive Arabic-language college
of higher education will open its doors here in October.
The Nazareth Academic Institution will have some 120 students in its first year for a limited selection
of courses in chemistry, communications, occupational therapy, and computer science.
From this small beginning, the founders hope it will blossom into the country's first Arab university, provide a peace-building bridge between Israelis and Palestinians, and stem the exodus
of thousands
of students who study abroad rather than contend with an Israeli system they say deters Arabs, who are one-fifth
of the population. They also say it will greatly increase the opportunity for Arab residents, particularly women, to gain the qualifications necessary to join the work force, which would help the economy
of the Galilee, where most Israeli Arabs live.
"We are going to create a viable institution that will provide a future for the young people in the Galilee. A multicultural academic center for peace, professional development, and the creation
of a responsible, diverse leadership," said Susan Drinan, an American who is a General Electric executive and chairperson
of the new college's Board
of Trustees.
Critics
of the plan say it will further marginalize the Arab minority in Israel; others fear it will become an intellectual hotbed
of separatist Palestinian nationalism.
The debate has raged since 2000, when the Israeli government first decided in principle to open a college for Israeli Arabs in the Galilee.
The Mar Elias Educational Institutions, which operates an elementary school and a high school, immediately applied to the Israel Council for
Higher Education for a license to operate the college. But the second Palestinian uprising erupted soon after, and the decision was shelved, apparently for political reasons.
Mar Elias, which was established in the Galilee town
of Ibillin by the Greek Catholic Church, pursued the plan despite repeated rejections and delays. (In the interim period, it became a licensed branch campus
of the University
of Indianapolis, graduating more than 200 students, but the Israeli government ended all partnerships in which Israeli entities offer degrees from foreign institutions because
of concerns about falling standards.)
Political Hand-Wringing
In 2009 the Israeli government and the Council for
Higher Education finally gave Mar Elias their approval to open a new college.
Ramiz Jaraisy, the mayor
of Nazareth who has authorized a site for the new college, including a fully equipped library, says the decision is long overdue.
"It's a pity that until now, after more than 60 years since the establishment
of the state
of Israel, there is not even one academic institution among the Arab minority acting under the auspices
of the Council for
Higher Education. It should have been implemented a long time ago," said Mr. Jaraisy.
Israel's only other Arabic-language colleges are five segregated teacher-training institutions.
The delays in the project were due to political hand-wringing, he said. "I was involved at least twice in the process
of a decision in the Council for
Higher Education concerning the establishment
of an academic institution among the Arabs in Nazareth, and twice that process was stopped because
of political decisions
of ministers."
When Israel celebrated the 62nd anniversary
of its independence in May 2010, some 1.54 million Arab citizens accounted for 20.4 percent
of the total population
of 7.58 million. But in the academic year 2007-8, the latest figures available from the Israeli Central Bureau
of Statistics, only 11.8 percent
of undergraduate students in
higher education in Israel were Arabs, falling to 6.6 percent
of master's-level students, and just 3.5 percent
of doctoral students.
During that period there were some 12,900 Arab students at Israeli colleges and universities and nearly 8,000 more at Arabic-language teacher-training colleges. But as many as 8,500 Arab students are reported to be studying abroad, most
of them in Jordan.
"Arab students in Israel don't have an option for
higher education in Arabic," said Yousef T. Jabareen, a law lecturer at the University
of Haifa and director
of Dirasat, the Arab Center for Law and Policy, in Nazareth. "Israel has established so far seven universities that have public funding. However, none
of them is in Arabic. Israel does not have an option for
higher education in Arabic for about 20 percent
of its population."
For Arab students, "I see it as a violation
of their right to equality, especially their right to
education and their right to preserve their language and their cultural identity," he said.
Mr. Jabareen supports the development
of the new college. "We need it to be a good, well-supported Arab university. I believe it could solve many
of these problems," he said.
But even after the Council for
Higher Education decision, the college may not survive because the accreditation was not accompanied by any
of the financial support it had requested from the government.
"There are six colleges in Galilee, five
of them are fully funded, all
of them in Jewish areas. This is the only one in the Arab sector and the only one that is not funded," said Raed Mualem, senior vice president
of the Mar Elias institutions who has pushed the project for the past 10 years. He said the trustees were trying to raise the $2-million necessary to begin operating in the fall, with a strategic plan that requires $150-million over the coming decade.
Steven G. Stav, who served until recently as director general
of the Council for
Higher Education, said he supported the project despite entrenched opposition to an Arab-oriented college and misgivings among council members about the quality
of the teaching.
"We think it is very important for the Galilee that this college starts out and will be a positive donor and contributor to the area," said Mr. Stav.
"There was a question about this college because we do not promote sectorial colleges; we want to have integrated colleges," he said. "We have minorities that need some sort
of self-definition in their teaching, but then you run into other difficulties."
Those "other difficulties" are apparently fears that an Arab college would become a hotbed
of radicalism.
But Mr. Mualem and his colleagues say the opposite is true.
Peace Studies
"Our teaching staff is one third Christian, one third Jewish, one third Muslim," said Mr. Mualem. "I don't think any
of the people we have on staff want to build an institution dedicated to the worldview
of terrorists. We are exactly the opposite. One third
of the students' program is compulsory peace studies. No matter what they are studying, the first thing they will study is peace, how to live in a multicultural society."
"We can be the bridge between Israel and the Arab world," he continued. "It is in our interest to develop our Israeli identity, but not to forget where we came from."
Arab students agree that the new college would be valuable.
Amani Odeh, a 22-year-old college graduate, said Arab high-school students have a hard time getting into Israeli universities and prefer to go abroad. She earned a degree in chemistry and environmental sciences from Mar Elias and the University
of Indianapolis before that arrangement ended.
"Arab students leave for Jordan and other countries abroad to study for medicine, for example, because they can't get the grades," she said. "My cousin went to Italy to study medicine. My neighbor also went to study in Italy. Most
of my friends who I finished high school with went to Jordan and other places."
But some Arab academics remain dubious. Fadia Nasser-Abu Alhija, associate professor at Tel Aviv University School
of Education, said the existence
of the five segregated Arabic-language teacher-training colleges has caused "difficulties" and "deep gaps" between the Jewish and Arab high-school systems.
"I am skeptical about running an Arab university because I am very anxious about the level and the standards
of the kind
of people who will run this institute," she said. "To maintain the level, I think we have to have equal
education."
