The following is a collection of Articles, interviews and essays that shed light on the issues important to the Shalem Center's intellectual community.

Technion Raises $1 Billion from American Donors
The American Technion Society’s historic 13-year “Shaping Israel’s Future” campaign has come to a close after reaching its goal of $1 billion to benefit the Technion, Israel’s premier science and technology university. In the largest campaign ever conducted by an American organization raising funds for Israeli higher education, a full 61% of the funds secured were in gifts of $1 million or more. A number of gifts between $10 million and $50 million will go towards the establishment of new research centers and institutes at the Technion. Click here to read a press release from the ATS, and here to read the Jerusalem Post article on this milestone:

Harvard Research Fellow Describes “The Brain Drain We Don’t Hear About”
The dramatic effect of the Israeli brain drain on the humanities is being ignored by the officials best positioned to reverse the trend, claims Dr. Ilai Saltzman, a research fellow at Harvard University. Along with natural and exact sciences, “It is important to include the fields of philosophy, political science, history and communications,” Saltzman writes in a recent op-ed in Ha’aretz. These fields “definitely meet an academic demand and undoubtedly can help address the non-material needs of Israeli society, thereby contributing to its strength and vitality.” Click here to read the full op-ed at Ha’aretz:

New Israeli Academy to Advance Humanities Breaks Ground
A $50 million gift from Leonard Polonsky and his wife, Georgette Bennett, will establish the Polonsky Academy for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. The gift, intended to advance the humanities and draw top Israeli researchers currently living abroad, will support the construction of a state-of-the-art building, as well a $40,000 annual stipend for 30 post-doctoral fellows. "This is an opportunity for very bright people to have the freedom to focus on their work," Mr. Polonsky commented. Click here to read the full article in The Chronicle of Higher Education:

NYU Opens Elite Liberal Arts Affiliate in Abu Dhabi
This fall, NYU will open the doors of an elite, U.S.-style liberal arts research university in Abu Dhabi. The affiliate is founded on, “a common belief in the value of a liberal arts education…and a commitment to educating students who are true citizens of the world,” according to its website. After a world-wide search for top high school students, the 150 incoming students, who hail from 39 countries, were chosen from more than 9,000 applicants, and have an average SAT score of 1440, making the school one of the most selective in the world. Click here to read the full New York Times article about NYU Abu Dhabi:

Top Education Official: “Israeli Higher Education in Decline”
A looming budget crisis, a dismal faculty-student ratio, a serious rate of brain drain, and a high average faculty age now characterize the Israeli system of higher education, once top-rated internationally, according to Prof. Manual Trajtenberg, Chairman of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Israel Council on Higher Education. “Over the last decade the system has been in decline,” said Trajtenberg, who is spearheading a plan to lure young researchers back to Israel. “The focus on accessibility came at the expense of quality. Now is the time to go back and put the emphasis on the quality.” Click here to read an English translation of the article:

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