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January 9, 2004/Tevet 15 5764, Vol. 56, No. 16
Students return to Israel programs
RACHEL POMERANCE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
When the University of Pennsylvania changed its Israel travel-abroad policy, it was a bittersweet victory for David Rendsburg.
The Penn senior might have spent his junior year in Israel were it not for the university administration, which until last month wouldn't guarantee that it would give credit for study in Israel because of a U.S. State Department advisory against traveling there.
But starting next fall, students will be able to study in Israel by filing a petition that includes a statement of support from an academic adviser and a waiver, signed by both the student and his or her guardian, releasing the university from responsibility for the student's safety.
The shift came after students affiliated with Pennpac, a pro-Israel campus group, launched a letter-writing campaign urging a policy review and bombarded the provost with 400 letters in the last two weeks of the fall semester.
More than three years into the Palestinian intifada, American undergraduates have adjusted to violence in Israel and the ongoing conflict in Iraq, officials at Israeli universities say. In some cases, the unrest even has piqued students' interest in the region.
Taken together, these factors have caused U.S. enrollment in Israeli universities to climb. But the numbers are only about half of what they were before the intifada, said Amy Sugin, director of the American Friends of Hebrew University's office of academic affairs.
Many universities restricted study in Israel when the State Department issued a travel advisory after the intifada was launched in September 2000.
Academic policies remain a serious stumbling block for American students hoping to receive academic credit for study in Israel and the Israeli universities hoping to attract them.
Some schools provide full sponsorship or limited re-cognition, such as a waiver to attend a non approved program or credits that don't count toward a student's grade-point average.
Other universities have dropped partnerships with Israeli universities that provided financial aid and credit transfers, giving students no guarantees that credits will be accepted.
Still, Israeli universities are reporting an upswing in North American undergraduate enrollment and new enthus-iasm by students eager to study in Israel.
Tel Aviv University has seen an increase in enrollment to about 100 Americans this year, up from roughly 75 last year and 50 the year before, said Ami Dviri, director of the university's office of academic affairs.
Yeshiva University boasts record numbers for its program, in which students typically spend their first year of college in an affiliated yeshiva program in Israel. The university now has 675 students in Israel, up from 580 the previous year.
At Hebrew University, enrollment has increased nearly 30 percent, to about 150 American undergraduates this year. But policies at U.S. universities still are having a "significant' impact, Sugin said.
Enrollment in a Hebrew U. pre-university program has dipped only by about 18 percent since the intifada began, while the semester-abroad program, where students enroll through their universities, has dropped by nearly half, Sugin said.
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