President's Message

Dear Friends,

This has been a very intensive year of activity and growth for HAC.  

The most recent period in Israel has not been easy: we have experienced another all too familiar round of war, violence, and terror, and an extremely tense security situation.  On top of all this, Israel is coping with the worrisome trend of escalating social polarization. This has been accompanied by an unprecedented level of hostility that has penetrated both public discourse and private spaces, sometimes even tearing friends and families apart.  In light of these threats, HAC continues to encourage, together with our Azrieli Center for Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education and Employment, and through additional initiatives, open discourse and new channels of communication between our faculty, students, and administration.  We continue relentlessly to create the most favorable conditions to facilitate positive intergroup dialogue and to develop a pluralistic shared society, while promoting integration and equal opportunities for all our students.

I am extremely proud this year to highlight HAC’s achievements in the realm of international academic activities and the new partnerships we’ve created with institutions of higher education outside of Israel.  Our Department of Optometry and Vision Science has launched HAC’s first international English-language graduate degree program which includes eight foreign applicants (including 3 from the Palestinian Authority). We are also involved in planning more international courses online in additional areas. While increasing the involvement of international experts in a growing number of disciplines, we’ve expanded the list of universities with whom we maintain academic cooperation to include institutions in the US, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain, and Germany.  

Here at home, we successfully initiated our new M.A. program in the Development of Children with Special Needs, which has become our largest graduate degree program.  This fall, we’ll be opening Israel’s only Master’s degree program in Medical Laboratory Science - for the M.Med.Lab.Sc. degree. Alongside these academic achievements, we have completed a college-wide strategic planning process to ensure that HAC remains relevant to the considerable changes expected in the academic world during the next 5 to 10 year period. 

I hope that you will enjoy reading this report, which celebrates the successes of our inspiring faculty members, devoted staff, and bright and dedicated students.  But we can’t imagine taking sole credit for these accomplishments, as none of them would be possible without the stalwart support of our donors. Therefore, I want to take this opportunity, on behalf of our faculty, staff, and students, to express our sincere gratitude and to thank you once again for your friendship and generosity.

With warm regards,

Prof. Bertold Fridlender

President of HAC