Ariel centre moves closer to becoming a university

The Ariel University Centre of Samaria now qualifies as a university, according to a report prepared by the Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria. But the bid to recognise the centre as a university has prompted hundreds of academics to urge Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar to revoke the process, writes Talila Nesher for Haaretz.

The CHE-JS report is a key step in the process of turning the Ariel centre into a university in July, when the institution's "temporary university status" expires. Sa'ar pledged to advance the centre’s status and called it "an important anchor in the Samaria capital”.

But more than 250 Israeli academics, including four Israel Prize laureates, recently petitioned Sa'ar, urging him not to declare the Ariel centre a university, arguing that they see it as their duty “to stop the attempt to harness academia in the occupation's service”.
Full report on the Haaretz site