The Technion’s Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering has launched an International Program in Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering. The program will be conducted in English and is intended for students from abroad. This year, the first class will begin with 23 students and will be, in the words of Prof. Arnon Bentur, dean of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering: “the nucleus for attaining a vision of setting up an international school in all engineering fields at the Technion, within whose framework, within a decade, will be studying 1,000 students from all corners of the globe.”
The four women students and 19 males come from 14 countries on five continents – North America (the US and Canada), South America (Uruguay and Peru), Europe (Italy, Denmark, France, Spain and Albania), Africa (South Africa, Ghana and Guinea) and Asia (China and India). 30% of the students are from developing countries.
The goals of the new International School are:
- Training students from abroad in those fields of engineering in which the Technion and Israel lead and have an international reputation.
- Training graduates from developed and developing countries that will serve as “ambassadors of goodwill” for Israel and will give a boost to Israeli industry in the global market.
- The Zionist aspect of attracting talented Jewish youth to a program integrating Zionism and engineering studies on an international academic level.
- An infrastructure for absorbing students from universities abroad for short-term study periods in the framework of various student exchanges.
- Creating contact between Israeli students and those from abroad with the aim of exposing Israeli students to how things work in the global world.
- Attracting outstanding students from all over the world as potential candidates for advanced degree studies.
“The curriculum is identical to the Hebrew one in the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering,” added Prof. Bentur. “The field in which we deal – building and infrastructure – is a global one. Many Israeli companies in this field operate abroad. We believe that upon completion of their studies our students will be ambassadors of goodwill for Israel in their countries and some will even be representatives of Israeli companies abroad.” He stressed the reputation and multidisciplinary character of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which enables training engineers on the cutting edge of science and technology in order to answer to needs of the 21st century in infrastructure and environment.
The School’s administrative director, Prof. Amnon Katz, says that, at first, the students will study in a four-month preparatory program, in which they will also learn Hebrew. “We are talking about a bidirectional process. On one hand, we will export the tremendous amount of knowledge accumulated in the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and in Israel in infrastructure and water and will turn graduates of a program into leaders in their field and ambassadors of goodwill for Israel. On the other hand, our students will benefit from meeting talented students from all over the world.”
The School’s operative manager, Ariel Geva, cited the success in recruiting students, which is a result of the Technion’s international reputation and extensive marketing efforts that included, among other things, visiting leading high schools in the US and Europe, visiting international study fairs and exposure on the Internet. “To all these, we have to add the commitment of the Technion administration to leading this strategic process,” he added. “The students in the International School will receive special attention that will include individualized mentoring in academic and social areas and a social/experience program that will include getting to know Israeli society and the country.”