In response to a surge of anti-Israel and antisemitic protests on university campuses in the West — including Ivy League schools and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is inviting foreign faculty and students to pursue their studies, teaching and research activities on the Technion’s campuses in Haifa.

Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan said the university has already received inquiries from Jewish students and lecturers who believe they would feel safer and freer in Israel despite the raging war against Hamas in the south and the specter of war with Hezbollah in the north.

“Given the feeble responses of quite a few presidents of leading universities in North America, Europe and Australia, many Jewish and Israeli students and researchers currently face physical and verbal threats that cause them to think twice about everything they do and prevent them from participating in academic activities in those institutions,” Sivan said.

“As a result of this situation and given the Technion’s important role in the history of the Jewish people during the last 100 years, we have announced a program for the rapid integration of students and faculty members from around the world looking for an academic refuge during these difficult times.”

In August, the Technion was ranked 79th on the Shanghai Ranking of the world’s top 100 universities, which evaluates universities based on the number of Nobel laureates, Fields medalists, highly cited researchers, and publications in major journals such as Nature and Science.

The Technion’s new “Call for Proposals” includes the following details:

• Researchers with a PhD are invited to join Technion’s postdoctoral program under the guidance of Technion faculty or joint guidance with a mentor from their home institution.
• Students are invited to join research projects in Technion’s labs under the guidance of Technion faculty for a period of two months to a year, by joining the Student Exchange or Study Abroad programs that offer a wide range of courses, mainly for graduate degrees. These courses are taught in English.
• Suitable students are invited to apply for a full research degree (master’s or PhD) under the guidance of Technion faculty or joint guidance with a mentor from their home institution.

“The Technion will continue to serve as a supportive and safe research university for everyone,” said Sivan.

“I invite undergraduate and graduate students and faculty from all over the world to join us during this difficult time, and to be part of our academic community at the forefront of global research and education.”