In-person higher education fairs are slowly returning to the world stage and Bar-Ilan University’s International School participated successfully in the French fairs organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) in February 2022.
Yael Toledano, Director of External Academic and Diplomatic Relations, represented BIU’s International School at the week-long events in Paris. These included fairs at about eight Jewish high schools, a general fair for all potential students (undergraduates, graduates, and postgraduates), and meetings with the Israeli Embassy in Paris and the Union des Étudiants Juifs de France (UEJF – the Jewish Students’ Association of France).
Back L-R: Prof. Galia Yanoshevsky, Head of BIU’s French Department with participants in the fair. Front: Yael Toledano
“The fairs were great for Bar-Ilan and contributed to the positioning of the university,” said Yael. “I think there is far more interest in studying with us now, perhaps because we have continuous representation and a strong presence in France, as well as the exposure of our researchers in the French media.
“This time, in all our meetings, we could see that people knew more about Bar-Ilan than before and wanted to hear more about our programs, especially the international programs in English.”
During the meeting with the UEJF, the delegates agreed to connect BIU to the different branches of Jewish students on campuses around the country as well as to the international schools of universities in Paris. An invitation was extended to the UEJF to tour BIU when the students visit Israel for their summer trips and possibly attend a lecture being held by a French-speaking lecturer.
The main fair arranged by JAFI attracted about 650 participants. Many participants showed serious interest in BIU’s graduate degrees and other international programs.
Bar-Ilan University delegation visits the Israeli Embassy in Paris. L-R: Yael Toledano, Prof. Galia Yanoshevsk, Dr. Martin Oheim, Prof. Adi Salomon, Minister-Counsellor Delphine Gamburg; Elie Beressi, Intern in the Embassy
“We had a very successful meeting with the Israeli diplomats and staff at the Israeli Embassy in Paris,” Yael said. “Ms. Delphine Gamburg, the Minister-Counsellor, Director of Communications, joined us for the discussions.”
Participants included Prof. Adi Salomon from BIU’s Chemistry/NANO Department; Prof. Galia Januszewski, the head of BIU’s Department of French Culture; and Dr. Martin Oheim, a researcher with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).
“We discussed a variety of topics including encouraging collaborations between universities, assisting with issuing visas to researchers and students from France, sending information to relevant people on our joint programs with France (MSc in Chemoinformatics, Memoranda of Understanding, Erasmus agreements), facilitating a connection with French universities, and the upcoming symposium, ‘Nanoscale,’ which will be held in France in April,” she said.
“We also spoke about Bar-Ilan’s involvement in the Israeli Embassy’s planned trip to Israel with a delegation of university presidents from France. We were excited to hear about this visit and hope it happens soon.”
