The Shalem Center is a Jerusalem research institute founded in 1994, which conducts academic research in the fields of Jewish and Zionist history, philosophy, political theory, Bible and Talmud, Middle East Studies, archaeology, economics, and strategic studies. Shalem is home to Shalem Press, one of Israel's leading academic publishing houses, specializing in the translation of works of Western philosophy into Hebrew. 

In March 2009, Shalem submitted an application to Israel's Council for Higher Education to open Israel's first liberal arts college. Shalem College will offer the first Israeli B.A. modeled on the American liberal arts degree. Top Israeli and overseas applicants will pursue a unique core curriculum in which the classics of Western thought are studied alongside the Bible and other Jewish sources. The College is currently scheduled to open with majors in Philosophy, Political Theory and Religion (PPR) and in Middle East and Islamic Studies. Additional majors will be added as resources become available.

Shalem College will be guided by the following principles:

Shalem College aims to prepare exceptionally qualified students to be reflective citizens, scholars, and leaders committed to serving the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and the world beyond; and to contribute to the advancement of learning in the humanities and social sciences.   

The College seeks to initiate undergraduates into the intellectual and moral traditions of Judaism, the Zionist movement, and the West, and to expose them to the perspectives offered by other world civilizations. This will be achieved by means of a broad liberal education based on (i) a substantial core curriculum including subjects from Hebrew Bible, rabbinic literature, and Greek philosophy to economics, constitutional law, and Zionist and Israeli history; and on (ii) the mastery of at least one of the specialized disciplines.

The College offers an intensive learning environment that teaches the exercise of independent judgment through a systematic, critical and constructive engagement with great works; extensive exercises in reading, research, writing, and speaking, with an emphasis on creativity and intellectual rigor; small-group instruction aimed at encouraging questioning and the development of ideas within the classroom; ongoing discussion of significant issues among faculty and students, both in and out of the classroom; and public acknowledgment of excellence.

Students are selected on the basis of exceptional academic abilities, intellectual ambition, personal initiative, moral integrity, and a desire to serve their people and humanity.  The College welcomes students from a variety of Jewish backgrounds, as well as non-Jewish students wishing to pursue studies in a Jewish environment.