The University of Haifa

The University of Haifa is a public research university located on Mt. Carmel in Haifa.

Founded in 1963 as Haifa University College, the name was officially changed to the current University of Haifa in 1970. In 1972, the Council for Higher Education in Israel granted the university full academic accreditation, including the right to award a bachelor’s degree in twenty-four departments and a masters degree in twelve. With its accreditation, University of Haifa became the sixth academic institution in Israel and the fourth university.

The university currently had faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences, Law, Science and Science Education, Social Welfare and Health Studies, Education, a graduate school for Business Administration, and a Center for Maritime Studies. It has about 18,000 students and 40 research centers in various fields. The Oranim Teachers’ College and the Ohel Sarah College of the Emek became branches of the university. Subsequently the Ohel Sarah College became the independent Emek Jezreel College while the Oranim Teachers College continued partially to cooperate with the university in various fields of study.

In 1984 the Hecht Museum, named for Reuven and Edith Hecht, was established on the campus. The museum exhibits Reuven Hecht’s collections of Ereẓ Israel archeology and modern art. The university also runs an overseas study program for students from all over the world who wish to study in Israel. The library, which is situated in a specially designed modernistic unit, includes 700,000 volumes and has pioneered the use of computers for preparation of bibliographies and bibliographic data. It also includes material for psychological tests and audio-visual material. The Haifa campus houses the IBM building, thus enabling the university to cooperate with the high-tech industry.

The University of Haifa received a donation of $10 million from American businessman Lorry Lokey in May 2018, which will be used to construct a new campus for the university in downtown Haifa.

Professor Mouna Maroun became the first Arab Christian woman appointed rector of an Israeli university when she was elected to lead the University of Haifa in April 2024. A neuroscientist and expert on post-traumatic stress disorder, Maroun was born in the village of Isfiya to a Maronite Christian family of Lebanese origin and has been a faculty member at Haifa for more than two decades. Her appointment reflects the university’s reputation for diversity and inclusion—45% of its 17,000 students are Arab, and half are the first in their families to pursue higher education.

Sources: University of Haifa receives $10 million gift to construct a downtown campus, JNS, (May 30, 2018);
Bard, Mitchell G. and Moshe Schwartz. 1001 Facts Everyone Should Know About Israel. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005;
Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.
“First Arab Christian woman to head Israel’s University of Haifa,” Tablet, (May 5, 2024).