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Academy rience. Secondly, we are shaping our faculty’s next tional program graduation rate is similar to the rate
generation of researchers and enriching them. We among Israeli students.”
want international students who receive their bach-
elor’s degree here to stay on and study for advanced World-Class Academic Studies
degrees. Eventually, we hope they become faculty
members and do research here. And a Vibrant Student Community

“The third aspect is pure Zionism. This program One of the hundred students hand-picked for the
builds bridges, making it easier for students from program is 24-year-old Danielle Blicker, who is now
overseas to make aliyah and find their place in Israel. nearing the end of her studies. Blicker was born and
After graduation, these students have no difficulties raised in Vancouver, Canada, to a religious Jewish
finding work or continuing their academic education family. After graduating high school, she came to Is-
in Hebrew. rael and spent a year at a Midrasha near Mevaseret

"Currently, there are around a hundred students Danielle Blicker, a student in
enrolled in the program’s courses (in years one the international program: “The
through four), and the number is rising steadily. In academic level here is very high, and
previous years, about half the students were from I spent a term studying in New York,
China. This year, however, the number of Chinese so I have something to compare it to.
students has decreased considerably, and the stu- I look at what students are learning
dent body has diversified accordingly. We have stu- at other universities and colleges
dents from the United States, South Africa, Brazil, around the world, and I see that
Korea, Russia, Ukraine, and other countries. About a we cover much more ground here,
third of our students are women. This is similar to the without lowering the standards”
situation in the rest of the faculty."
Zion. Her original plan was to return to Canada at the
Assoc. Prof. Gat explains that one of the faculty’s end of the year and go to the University of Toronto,
most complex challenges is applicant screening. “We but then things took a new turn for her. “During my
need to admit people from all over the world, which year at the Midrasha, I fell in love with Israel,” she
complicates the process considerably,” he mentions. smiles, remembering. “I realized I wanted to be here
“Before the prep course, we have to convert their and started looking for a good place to study. My
grades and exam scores to an equivalent of the Is- brother has a friend who got into the international
raeli Psychometric Entrance Test score (PET).

“One of the things we try to assess is the students’
resilience. These are 18-year-old boys and girls. They
haven’t served in the military like Israeli students and
haven’t spent any significant time away from home.
We have to make sure they are up to the challenge
of living and studying in a foreign country at such a
young age. This is why we insist that applicants are
interviewed by professional interviewers from out-
side the faculty. At the interview, beyond making
sure applicants who aren’t native English speakers
can communicate in English, we check whether their
personality is a good fit for this experience.”

The next screening phase is the prep course,
which all students must pass – even the most excep-
tional ones. “The prep course plays a crucial role in
our screening process. On average, about a third of
the applicants don’t finish,” Gat reveals. “At the end
of the screening process – and only then – we can be
reasonably certain that those who start the program
will graduate with a degree, and indeed, the interna-

24 | MEgazine | Faculty of Mechanical Engineering