BIU’s International School welcomed 800 new and returning international students and researchers for the 2023-2024 academic year on December 31, a delay of three months due to the Hamas-Israel war. The university held a New Year’s Eve party to welcome everyone and bring in the New Year.
While some of BIU’s existing international students and researchers had remained in Israel over the three months, most of them returned with the new students at the start of the new first semester.
BIU held its Orientation Day event on Zoom this year as large in-person gatherings were not possible at the time.
At the end of December, the Bar-Ilan University management approved a special plan to address both the needs of Israel and its economy and those of students serving in the reserve forces, which included starting the academic year in two phases: The first on December 31 and the second upon the release of reserve soldiers.
Russian Speakers Start the Year
The International School held a separate orientation event for the 50+ new Russian-speaking students and researchers from Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. This included visiting international students, immigrant (olim) students, and Erasmus+ exchange students.
The breakdown of those enrolled in undergraduate studies is 12 visiting students and 19 olim, with 10 visiting students and seven olim registered for Master’s degrees. In addition, three postgraduate researchers have joined BIU’s Math department: a PhD student, a postdoctoral researcher, and a visiting researcher, who will be at BIU for four months.
While the majority of our new Russian speakers will be studying various degrees in English, two students from Russia will participate in our new BSc in Mathematics and Physics. This program enables them to do their first year of studies in Russian while participating in an intensive Hebrew ulpan (Hebrew language course) to enable them to continue their studies in Hebrew from their second year.
