Education minister to push for Ariel university recognition

Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he will recommend the Council for the Higher Education in Judea and Samaria give full recognition to Ariel University Center in both name and status, Maariv reported on Thursday.

The announcement comes a day after a decision by the Planning and Budgeting Committee recommended further delaying a ruling on the school’s status until May 2013.

The academic campus resides in the settlement of Ariel and has been campaigning since 2005 to be recognized as a full university.

Sa’ar’s announcement was a boost for supporters of the academic institute that is battling to become Israel’s eighth university.

“Israel needs another university,” Sa’ar said during an interview on Channel 10. “I know that the existing universities think that seven is a magic number but that isn’t the case.”

Sa’ar said he will ask the Council to approve in two weeks time the upgrade in the status of Ariel University.

The Council acts as an analog to The Council for Higher Education, which governs higher learning in Israel proper.

Minister without portfolio Benny Begin (Likud) welcomed the announcement.

“I see great importance in implanting Jews in Judea and Samaria, and the Ariel University is an important anchor for this,” he said.

The college, currently stuck in a neither here-nor-there compromise status of university center, is hoping to be granted full recognition later this month. The upped status would make it eligible for more state funding and add to the school’s prestige.

Among existing university heads there is strong opposition to establishing another university in Israel. Those against the idea say it will influence academic budgeting and the physical location of the campus makes it a potential troublemaker in international opinion.