2012-13 Academic Year Kicks off with Exciting New Programs
TAU maintains its status as Israel’s largest and most popular university, with total student enrollment at 30,000
Eight thousand new students walked through the gates of Tel Aviv University this week with the opening of the 2012-13 school year. Of these, 5,000 are enrolled for bachelor’s degrees and 3,000 for master's degrees. Computer science and economics were the most highly-demanded subjects, followed by electrical engineering, law, biology and medicine. Over three-fourths of TAU's 30,000-strong student body is over the age of 21.
Sixty new faculty members were recruited this year, many of them researchers returning from overseas post-doctoral programs. This brings the total of new faculty hires at TAU to 150 over the last three years.
New International Programs
Two new English-language programs opened this year, joining the 15 existing programs at TAU's International School. The new MA in Migration Studies is an interdisciplinary, one-year graduate degree focusing on international migration, a topical subject of wide concern throughout the world. Taught by experts in the field, the program brings the experience of a country built by large-scale immigration into the classroom. Practical courses train students to become experts in public policy, international affairs, politics, academia, and non-profit organizations. Through this program, students will gain the theories, tools and hands-on experience to explore the newest trends, compare immigration policies and debate some of the most controversial issues in today's globalized world.
The new BA in Liberal Arts — TAU’s first all-English undergraduate degree program — opened with 52 students. The three-year program is designed to provide students with the foundations of a strong education while empowering them to succeed in an increasingly diverse, complex, and fast-changing world. By offering a broad selection of courses in various fields in the humanities, the program encourages students to explore beyond the confines of a single discipline. At the same time, the degree ensures focus by facilitating concentrated study in philosophy, literature, Israel and Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, psychology and psychoanalysis, and digital culture and communications.
The new BA will be followed by the opening of an international BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in the 2013/14 Academic Year.
Other New Programs on Campus
A new BSc in Biology and Linguistics with an emphasis on Brain Sciences deals with the study of the neurological basis of human linguistic ability (neuro-linguistics) and the study of the genetics of language. The degree will impart in-depth knowledge in the fields of biology, neuroscience and theoretical linguistics, and joins the integrated program for computer sciences and linguistics which was launched last year. The program will enable students’ integration in the field of artificial intelligence R&D.
An inter-university Master’s Program in Yiddish Literature opened — the first program of its kind in the world — combining Yiddish literature with existing discourse in the fields of Hebrew and general literature. Administered by the Goldreich Family Institute for Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture, the program reflects and represents new contemporary questions pertaining to Yiddish such as bilingual writing, minority literature and translation theory.
For more information please see English-language study options at TAU, and programs taught in Hebrew.
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