Israel, home to eight universities, will soon have six medical schools. On June 28, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who also serves as head of the Council for Higher Education, are slated to attend a cornerstone-laying ceremony for the construction of the Health Sciences and Medicine Building at Ariel University. Netanyahu and Bennett, along with Health Minister Yakov Litzman, were instrumental is pushing through the initiative to found a sixth school of medicine in Israel. The decision to go ahead with the new medical school was made at a meeting between the chairman of the Forum of Medical School Deans and professionals from the CHE, and has demanded intensive work by Ariel University's Planning and Budget Committee in recent weeks. The building that will house the school is being constructed as part of a general plan for the expansion of Ariel University. The building is expected to cost some 100 million shekels ($28 million), most of which the university intends to raise through donations. Bennett will undertake to have the faculty's curriculum approved by the relevant authorities. About 4,000 students are currently studying medicine at Israel's five medical schools, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, and Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, from which the first class graduated in 2016. Beginning from the 2017-2018 academic year, the number of students accepted to medical schools will increase by about 100 per year, enabling more Israeli students to complete their studies in Israel and making more Israeli-trained doctors available to the health care system, which is facing a shortage of doctors. "There is a shortage of medical school graduates in Israel, and about two months ago I passed a decision to increase the number of places in medical schools, and I intend to increase this further," Bennett said. "I want to open a faculty of medicine in Ariel that will strengthen the university's status. There is a beautiful aspect of coexistence here, since there is activity at Ariel University that serves both the Arab public and the Jewish public.
We cannot ignore the fact that this is a university on which academia has turned its back, and in certain circles even called to boycott. This is an excellent reason to invest in launching it." Ariel University was founded as Ariel University Center of Samaria in 1982 as a satellite of Bar-Ilan University. In 2004, it became an independent public college, and in 2012, it received full university status, a decision that garnered controversy because of its location in Ariel, over the Green Line. A 2013 ruling by the High Court of Justice upheld its university status. Speaking of the decision to found the new medical school, Ariel University Chancellor Yigal Cohen-Orgad said, "This is a great step we're taking. Today, some 750 medical students graduate each year in Israel, and 500 more Israeli students complete their studies abroad, mostly students from well-off families who can afford to do so. "Still, there is a shortage of about 200 medical school graduates annually, and that shortage is expected to grow worse in the next few years. "In recent years, we at Ariel University have promoted pre-medical studies, with the support of Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, and now we are taking complementary action and opening a medical school that will teach using the most advanced tools. In addition, we will found a regional medical center where local residents can receive medical treatment. "There are already over 30 medical research laboratories operating at the university, and Professor Shai Ashkenazi, who until recently served as head of Scientific Council of the Israeli Medical Association, will direct the program. The one who pushed like a bulldozer to found the medical school was Education Minister Bennett, and it's clear that to found a school like this we need a broad-based scientific infrastructure and support from the system. The medical school building will be named the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson Building." Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson own the company that is the primary shareholder of Israel Hayom.
