Columbia University announced the launch of its dual-degree program with Tel Aviv University.
"This is the first time that an Israeli university is collaborating with an elite American institution to offer a dual undergraduate program of this kind," said Professor Raanan Rein, vice president of Tel Aviv University.
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The program offers undergraduate students "an international educational experience … to enhance their global outlook and develop their language skills and communication abilities to the highest academic level," according to its website. "Wherever your passions lie, in the humanities, natural sciences, or social sciences, the dual-degree program offers you the opportunity to engage in the study of your chosen fields with world-renowned faculty on both sides of the Atlantic and to immerse yourself in two distinct academic, social and cultural environments."
Students in the four-year program will spend their first and second years studying a wide range of liberal arts options at Tel Aviv University. During years three and four, they will be at Columbia University completing requirements for a major and the core curriculum.
Dual-degree program advisers and tutors, assigned at the start of the program, will help undergrads navigate academic and student life at both universities.
After completing the four-year program graduates earn two bachelor's degrees, one from each school. The program's inaugural class will begin in the fall of 2020.
"By giving students the opportunity to study full-time at a top-tier university in the Middle East before bringing them to study in the Ivy League, they will not only benefit from being immersed in a wide range of cultures and experiences but will also make an immense contribution to the Columbia undergraduate classroom," said Professor Lisa Rosen-Metsch, dean of Columbia University School of General Studies.
TAU's BA in liberal arts provides a broad education in the humanities while allowing students to specialize in their areas of interest by choosing from six existing academic tracks, including digital culture and communication, Jewish and Israel studies, Middle Eastern studies, psychology, philosophy and literature; and two new tracks, entrepreneurship and innovation, and life sciences.
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
