The Weizmann Institute achieved 71st place worldwide, leading Israeli institutions in the global academic ranking. The Hebrew University claimed 88th position, while Technion earned 97th place among the world's top universities.

These achievements carry special significance as Israeli academia faces systematic attacks from international boycott campaigns targeting Israeli educational institutions. Universities operated under extraordinary circumstances, including missile attacks from Iran and Lebanon directed at campus facilities and the extended absence of hundreds of faculty members and students serving military reserve duty.

Professor Alon Chen, president of the Weizmann Institute, highlighted the achievement's importance during this turbulent period. "This achievement is particularly impressive during a challenging period, when Israeli academia as a whole faces unprecedented attacks in the international arena, and our research receives official recognition for the quality of our work. Despite and in spite of the challenges, we will continue to lead groundbreaking research and serve as a bridge of knowledge and science between Israel and the world," Professor Chen declared.

Professor Tamir Sheafer, rector of the Hebrew University and incoming president, emphasized their commitment to academic excellence. "We are proud to continue cultivating an academic environment that promotes critical thinking, research excellence, and innovative teaching. Work that connects between a glorious heritage of 100 years, to groundbreaking work for the future," Professor Sheafer noted.

When university achievements are adjusted for institutional size based on faculty numbers, Technion demonstrates exceptional performance, ranking 28th globally – a testament to its research efficiency and quality output.

Professor Uri Sivan, the Technion's president, characterized the accomplishment as a national mission. "Preserving the status of science and technology in Israel is a national mission of enormous importance, and it is particularly challenging this year, when we faced missiles from Iran and Lebanon that were fired toward the Technion campus and with the absence of hundreds of academic and administrative faculty members and graduate students who were required for hundreds of days of reserve duty. Technion's research and scientific excellence are our response to boycotts against Israel on campuses in North America, Europe, and Australia, and it is proof of the resilience of the Technion family."

Professor Sivan emphasized the collaborative achievement across Israeli higher education. "Preserving Technion's position in the leading constellation of academic institutions in the world is the fruit of joint effort by the academic staff, administrative staff, and Technion management, and it relies on international collaborations that are maintained despite academic boycotts and calls for severing relations with Israeli universities. Our main resources are the excellent human resources and the resilience we demonstrate in the face of difficulties and war. We welcome our partners in the pioneering constellation – the Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute for Science – partners in advancing Israeli science and cultivating it."

The annual Shanghai Ranking represents one of academia's most credible evaluation systems. Rankings assess institutional research quality through multiple indicators, including Nobel Prize and Fields Medal recipients among faculty and alumni, plus publication volume and quality in premier academic journals. The comprehensive evaluation encompasses approximately 2,500 universities worldwide.

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Three Israeli universities were recognized among the world's top 100, according to the 2023 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) released on Tuesday by Shanghai Ranking Consultancy.

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Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot ranked 67th, compared to 83rd place last year. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa placed 78th, while the Hebrew University of Jerusalem dropped to the 85th position from 77th in 2022. Harvard University topped the ranking list for the 21st year in a row. It is followed by two other US universities – Stanford and MIT.

Video: An interview with a Hebrew University professor / Credit: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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Israeli academia once again made it into the prestigious Shanghai Ranking of World Universities with flying colors.

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The three Israeli universities that were included in the 2022 report are the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which ranked 77th globally; the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, which was placed lower at 83; and the Weizmann Institute of Science, which was also ranked 83.

For the Hebrew University, this was a jump of 11 spots compared to 2021 and the best since 2018. The other two also improved their position, with the Weizmann Institute getting its best score ever since the ranking first began publishing in 2003.

All three institutions improved their standings compared to 2021, attesting to Israel's rising status as an academic powerhouse.

Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and the University of Haifa were included in the non-ranking part of the report (i.e. beyond the first 100 places).

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Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Morocco have initiated discussions to collaborate on scientific research projects, in addition to launching students and faculty exchange programs, with an official MoU to be signed by mid-October.

This collaboration – expected to be one of the first formal ones between universities from Morocco and Israel – is slated to focus on sustainability issues: namely agriculture, water, energy, and ecological restoration.

The partnership is expected to receive backing by Israel's ICL and Morocco's OCP corporations.

BGU President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz said that "BGU and UM6P have much in common. From their desert settings to their focus on applied research and innovative teaching methods, the two universities are well suited to collaborate on projects in sustainability and climate change. Both universities are committed to thriving in the desert in a 'green' environment, and both look outward – focused on helping our regions, countries and the world."

Mohammed VI Polytechnic University President Hicham El Habti​ added: "We are confident that linking science and technology institutions from both countries will have a major impact on people at a local and regional level. UM6P and BGU consider scientific research a key component for development, especially on sustainability matters. That is why we have identified this topic as the first step for our collaboration."

BGU recently consolidated 50 years of research into the School of Sustainability and Climate Change and UM6P has made this subject a top priority of its research and education programs, within its Green Tech Institute launched last year and its School of Agriculture, Fertilizers and Environmental Sciences launched in 2015.

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The Technion‒Israel Institute of Technology is one of them.

Quietly going about doing the research and development it does, the world-renowned university in Haifa has possessed marked breakthroughs since its beginnings in 1913 – a full 35 years before the establishment of modern-day Israel.

Well, maybe not so quietly: Just this week, it has been reported that the Technion will handle two experiments as part of a joint Israeli-Italian microgravity medical-experimentation project and space launch slated for the end of March.

But leaving these impressive ventures aside, what it really comes down to is the innovation of its students and faculty, coupled with its administrative leadership, which for the past several months has been led by Uri Sivan of the school's Faculty of Physics. Officially elected last Feb. 7, he took the helm as president on Oct. 1.

Sivan, 64, points out that Israel has gone through tremendous changes in the past three decades as the economy has transformed dramatically, and the technological impact has grown along with it.

"The country today is booming," he told JNS. ""here has been a technological revolution that has led to Israel being called the Startup Nation."

Developments in the biomedical industry, computer sciences, health and human services, mathematics, engineering, security and defense contribute to the making of "a world-class university that educates technological and societal leaders," notes Sivan. And one that's inclusive, he adds.

Being in Haifa and further from the politics that embroil Israel's other major cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, students can more unobtrusively go about their business of academics and research. Being in Israel's diverse north, Technion also draws a significant number of Arab students – about 20% – as part of its total enrollment of about 9,500 undergraduates and 4,500 graduate students. Add to that a minority empowerment program that includes boosts for Ethiopian, women and haredi students.

"We aim to be an island of pluralism and tolerance, to serve as a beacon for those values," says Sivan. "We are creating a just and non-discriminatory environment where everybody feels good and brings their individual potential to the maximum so as to succeed. Our social role is very important to us."

Sivan, a resident of Haifa and father of three, served as a pilot in the Israeli Air Force. He holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and mathematics; a master's degree in physics; and a PhD in physics, all with honors, from Tel Aviv University. He joined the Technion's faculty staff in 1991.

His research has covered a range of fields, including quantum mesoscopic physics, and the harnessing of molecular and cellular biology for the self-assembly of miniature electronic devices. His group at the university designs and builds ultra-high-resolution atomic force microscopes.

He and Dr. Ohad Zohar of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion (of which Sivan is founding director, and headed between 2005 and 2010) engraved the entire Hebrew Bible onto a small silicon chip. On a gold-plated silicon chip the size of a grain of sugar, the "Nano Bible" was written as part of an educational program developed to increase young people's interest in science and nanotechnology. Its text consists of more than 1.2 million letters carved with a focused beam of gallium ions and must be magnified 10,000 times to be readable, according to the American Technion Society.

In 2009, President Shimon Peres presented the Nano Bible to Pope Benedict XVI during his official visit to Israel. The three copies of the chip are at the Vatican Library; the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC; and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Over the course of his career, he has been awarded the Mifal Hapais Landau Prize for the Sciences and Research, the Rothschild Foundation Bruno Prize, the Israel Academy of Sciences Bergmann Prize, the Technion's Hershel Rich Innovation Award and the Taub Award for Excellence in Research. He also sits on a number of scientific advisory boards.

So how does he intend to apply his prodigious scholarly contributions to a new phase of work at the university – that of building other less concrete bridges to the world?

He notes three major directions for investment, both intellectually and fiscally.

The first, he explains, is continuing a process that started several years ago in relation to the network of multidisciplinary centers at Technion. "We are in the process of restructuring our research to build on human health, energy, environmental sustainability, education and advanced manufacturing. These subjects cannot be addressed in a single discipline."

Practically, he adds, this means restructuring the campus as well, physically housing these areas of research and its researchers together.

More foreign faculty would help as well in "this global world" and endeavor, says Sivan.

Second, he speaks to a different type of education in areas of math, science and engineering.

"We aim at the highest bracket; our graduates lead the industry," he says. "But we have to start a center embedding leadership skills in a more general arena, on nontraditional studies like entrepreneurship, ethics, environmental awareness – skills that are different from conventional engineering. We believe these are essential for the technological leaders of tomorrow."

He calls them "soft skills," though integral in the making of contemporary researchers, scientists and engineers.

And lastly, he considers the ecosystem within the industry – what he describes as the loss of a monopoly over knowledge. "Just a few years ago, university professors were the sole source of information and authority. This is not the case now. People have easy access to information and there have been major developments in communication; basic research is now done in the outside industry and not as much in academia."

And so, one of his goals is also one of his challenges.

"The companies doing research today don't necessarily represent the interest of societies, as universities do. They focus on commercialization. It's the flip side of the Startup Nation: How to serve society versus financial gain."

One way to do that, he says, is to build ties with the industry on both local and global scale. We need to reach a new understanding with those companies," stresses Sivan. "They need to understand that their long-term interest is in preserving academic interest and protecting curiosity-driven research. We need to streamline the technology transfer from the university to tech and startup companies."

Money and academia, he states (cue audible sigh). "It is challenging. We're going to work on that."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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With this presence, some US-based pro-Israel organizations are now turning their sights on Europe in an attempt to tackle what many feel is a significantly more difficult environment for supporters of Israel.

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The Maccabee Task Force has recently announced that it will expand into 11 universities in Europe in six countries.

"This year we will be on over 100 North American campuses; we are almost on all the campuses that meet of criteria of support. What we saw abroad was a significant need," said CEO David Brog, noting that MTF focuses on campuses with a "serious" BDS threat and ones that will produce "tomorrow's leaders and influencers."

Launched in 2015, the Maccabee Task Force goal is focused on combating the BDS movement by investing directly in Jewish and pro-Israel organizations, while building a broader consensus supporting Israel on campus.

After its initial foray into six campuses in 2016, the Maccabee Task Force has rapidly expanded each school year, with a current presence on 80 campuses across North America.

"We had another very good year last year. We were able to support more than 1,200 pro-Israel events on our 80 campuses," said Brog. "We were able to bring 1,500 campus leaders and influencers to Israel. That, to us, is a significant investment. Nobody else is bringing that number of campus leaders to Israel, and these are primarily non-Jews as well."

Brog said of the 80 campuses they operated on last year, just seven schools held BDS votes, with only one passing a BDS resolution.

The success comes as Israel-related anti-Semitism is becoming more prevalent on North American college campuses.

In September, the AMCHA Initiative found that the number of Israel-related, anti-Semitic incidents against Jewish students on campuses increased 70% from 2017 to 2018.

MTF's expansion into Europe likely comes with challenges not seen in North America. For starters, the Jewish population in Europe is much smaller than it is in the United States, with much larger Muslim communities in some Western European countries that are typically less sympathetic to Israel. While anti-Semitism is on the rise in North America, many Western European countries have been dealing with record numbers of anti-Jewish sentiments and attacks for a long time now.

The task force is funded by Sheldon and Dr. Miriam Adelson, mega-philanthropists who have given millions to Birthright Israel, the Israeli-American Council and other Jewish organizations.

Pro-Israel groups underfunded in Europe

At the same time, overall pro-Israel public sentiment in the United States is much higher than it is in Europe. Ireland, for example, has one of the strongest pro-BDS movements in Europe, and similarly in the United Kingdom, where students face a very virulent BDS movement and a major anti-Semitism scandal within with Labour Party. All this translates into a more hostile environment on campus for pro-Israel students and less established organizational support.

"When we analyzed the situation abroad, many said it was too late for Europe, and that BDS has won. But what we found is that it is much more nuanced than that," said Brog.

The task force has plans to expand into 11 universities in Europe in six countries.

The Jewish population in Europe is much smaller than it is in the US, with much larger Muslim communities that are typically less sympathetic to Israel

"Actually, to their credit, at a lot of the most prestigious schools in Europe, they are actually better and more subtle to their approach on issues related to Israel than US campuses," he said. "They behave how I would expect elite students to behave; they say 'nothing is black and white, I am not going to be sheep led by propaganda, I want to learn more about this complex region' than the BDS supporters would claim. BDS is not as far ahead as one might expect over there; in fact, there is a real opportunity to compete in the marketplace of ideas."

Brog also noted the potential to make a real impact with pro-Israel students and Jewish organizations in Europe. "We found that most Israel groups had incredibly low budgets and were resource-poor. We saw immediately an opportunity that we didn't realize exists. We hope to have an outsized influence for our investment," he said.

"We are going to test it; we are going to start on 11 campuses in six foreign countries. And if these investments bear fruit and are productive, I can see us expanding abroad."

Brog declined to name the six countries and campuses ahead of time, citing the desire to avoid "inadvertently making life more difficult for our partners abroad."

Replicating success of Israel trips in Europe

In North America, one of the signature initiatives of the task force has been its sponsored trips to Israel.

Unlike Birthright, which is exclusively for people with Jewish heritage, the MTF trips include recruiting emerging non-Jewish campus leaders to see Israel and Palestinian areas firsthand on fact-finding trips that include a visit to Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, as well as to the Palestinian Authority. This is part of an effort to establish a broad-based coalition of support for Israel on campus beyond just Jewish or pro-Israel organizations.

"We are investing in changing the attitudes of those who dominate the politics on campus," said Brog, "not only to create a situation where supporters of Israel can do so publicly, but to also to do so publicly with critical support from other campus organizations and leaders."

As such, he hopes to replicate the success of the Israel trips in Europe.

Brog, who said he will be departing soon on a "fact-finding" trip to European schools, says he is looking forward to hearing firsthand how his organization can help.

"I am very curious to learn about the situations on their campuses," he said, "to hear what they think will be effective on their campuses. And like North America, to fund the groups for what they want to do. Of course, the one big thing we are doing in North America, the Israel trip, is that they are excited about."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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