Ono Academic College

Ono Academic College (in Hebrew: הקריה האקדמית אונו) is a private college located in Kiryat Ono, Israel with over 18,000 students.[1][2] With its vision of bridging economic and cultural gaps in Israeli society,[3] the college attracts Druze, Bedouin, Palestinians, Ethiopian-Israelis, ultra-Orthodox Jews, and special needs students.[4][5][6][7]

Ono Academic College
הקריה האקדמית אונו‎
TypePrivate
Established1995 (1995)
ChancellorMoshe Ben Horin
PresidentMoshe Ben Horin
Students18,000
Location
Kiryat Ono
,
Israel
Websitewww.ono.ac.il
Ono Academic College main campus, Kiryat Ono
Ono Academic College Ultra-Orthodox campus, Or Yehuda

History

Ono Academic College was founded in 1995 by Ranan Hartman,[8][9] son of rabbi and philosopher David Hartman,[3] with the goal of opening up the country's higher education system to populations that are perceived as marginalized.[2][10][11]

The college was initially affiliated with the University of Manchester before becoming an Israeli school fully accredited by the Council for Higher Education in Israel.[1] Starting out in a single trailer with 100 law and business students, enrollment has risen to 18,000 students at five campuses around the country: Kiryat Ono, Jerusalem, Haifa, Netanya and Or Yehuda. The school offers 47 programs of study.[1]

OAC's satellite campuses in Or Yehuda and Jerusalem offer programs geared toward the Haredi Jewish population, allowing men and women to attend classes on different days, while Muslim, Christian and Jewish religious leaders attend classes together in a special joint program in law.[12] The college also has a substantial enrollment of Ethiopian-Israelis.[13][14] In the early days of the school, after Hartman was asked by the Jewish Agency to accept an Ethiopian student to the law school, he arranged for scholarships for needy Ethiopian immigrants, and over 1,000 Ethiopian students have graduated from the institution, including Pnina Tamano-Shata, the first Ethiopian born woman to join the Knesset and become a government minister.[1]

In 2012, OAC opened a special track for students with Asperger Syndrome that offers a bachelor's degree in business administration. The school also offers a specialized B.A. program for Druze women.[15] The Center for Academic Accessibility provides assistance to special needs students to assure that individuals with disabilities are not barred from obtaining academic degrees.[16] In 2013, the college established Ro'im Rachok, a 4-month training course which prepares young adults with autism for service in the Israel Defense Forces.[17]

In 2016, the college opened the Jonathan Wohl School of Music headed by Israel Prize laureate Noam Sheriff. At the dedication ceremony Sheriff spoke about the universal language of music and how this fit in with the goals of the college.[18]

In 2021, the college announced plans to expand its campus, connecting the campuses in Kiryat Ono and Or Yehuda. The campus, stretching over 13 dunams, will incorporate academic buildings, offices, dormitories and commercial areas. This will allow the ultra-Orthodox and secular campuses to operate side by side.[19]

Faculties
OAC founder Ranan Hartman with Reuven Rivlin, Gideon Sa'ar and Yisrael Gal, mayor of Kiryat Ono, 2017
  • Faculty of Law
  • Faculty of Business Administration
  • Faculty of Health Professions
  • Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Faculty of Marketing Communications
  • Jonathan Wohl School of Music

Degrees awarded

International cooperation

Ono Academic College and the Center for Israeli Legal Studies at Columbia Law School hosts visiting faculty from Israel, sponsors lectures and offers fellowships and exchange opportunities.[21]

In June 2017, the Shalom Comparative Legal Research Center at Ono Academic College hosted a week-long legal seminar for undergraduate students focused on labor law, intellectual property, equality, and the challenges that innovative technologies pose to the law at Yale Law School, New York University School of Law, and Fordham University School of Law.[22] In late 2017, the Shalom Comparative Legal Research Center at Ono Academic College collaborated with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva and the Swiss Center for Comparative Research in Lausanne to organize a three-day seminar on innovations in intellectual property law.[23]

Multicultural projects

In an attempt to integrate students from different population groups, the college offers a creative writing project in Arabic and Hebrew, a weekly phone-in program to establish rapport between secular and ultra-Orthodox women, and a talk program led by Jewish and Muslim religious leaders to discuss ways of bridging the conflict.[1]

Controversy

Ono College has been criticized for its policy of gender segregation for students from the ultra-orthodox community. According to Haaretz newspaper, Jews and Arabs attend separate classes, although Arab students who are proficient in Hebrew have a choice of studying with the Jews or joining an Arab class.[24] The college has also been criticized for budgetary irregularities and inflated salaries.[25] [26] [27][28] In 2019, the college instituted a recovery program that reduced teaching hours, lowered hourly payments and cut administrative personnel.[29]

Notable faculty

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. What is Ono Academic College's secret to success? Jerusalem Post
  2. "About Us – Friends of Ono Academic College". Friends.ono.ac.il. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  3. "Israel's Ono College: The dream of a shared society".
  4. Dattel, Lior (2010-12-31). "A Quiet Revolution". Haaretz.
  5. "Muslim couple receives MA in Jewish Studies". 2017-07-26.
  6. "Ono Academic CollegeROIM RACHOK | הקריה האקדמית אונו". Archived from the original on 2018-11-27. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  7. "Israel's Ono College: The dream of a shared society".
  8. "Leadership – Friends of Ono Academic College".
  9. Stocks (2020-02-12). "Stocks". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  10. Dattel, Lior (2010-12-31). "A Quiet Revolution". Haaretz.
  11. "A dangerous disconnect: Making millennials proud of Israel".
  12. הרב והשייח על אותו ספסל
  13. "Ethiopian-Israelis achieve their dream". 2014-03-26.
  14. "Press Releases: Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles Awards Nearly $1.2 Million in Israel-Based Grants: Jewish Community Foundation". Archived from the original on 2017-08-20. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  15. Asperger syndrome won’t keep Israeli students from careers
  16. Ono Academic College Higher Education Accessible to All, Haaretz
  17. Most armies ignore autistic people. Israel is calling them up.
  18. "JNF UK Dedicates the Jonathan Wohl Music School at Ono College - Green Israel - Jerusalem Post". Archived from the original on 2017-08-21. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  19. Ono Academic College expands, builds multicultural campus, Jerusalem Post
  20. The High Court of Justice rules: ‘Ono Academic College’ may activate a B.A. in Sportherapy
  21. Columbia Law School, Center for Israeli Legal Studies
  22. "Ono Academic CollegeA SEMINAR IN NEW YORK | הקריה האקדמית אונו". Archived from the original on 2017-08-20. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  23. "Ono Academic CollegeYOU'RE INVITED TO THE INTERNATIONAL WIPO-ONO SEMINAR IN GENEVA, NOV. 26 - DEC. 1, 2017 | הקריה האקדמית אונו". Archived from the original on 2018-11-27. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  24. Or Kashti, Yanal Jbareen: Jerusalem College Segregates Arabs and Jews on Its “Multicultural” Campus Haaretz, 4 November 2021.
  25. Sapir Peretz (January 6, 2005). Ono Academic College got approval - although extraordinary salaries discovered. Globes.
  26. Gur Megido (March 26, 2015). Warning investigation against Ono Academic College's managers. Globes.
  27. Tali Heruti-Sover (August 28, 2018). Ono's millionaires: The college paid in 2017 to Yaron Zelekha and Zohar Goshen over 1 million shekels each. The Marker.
  28. Tali Heruti-Sover (December 10, 2017). Ono Academic College presents: over the budget salaries and luxury cars for senior staff - and employee firing. The Marker.
  29. Tali Heruti-Sover (June 3, 2020). The college cut off millions to students - and paid to five seniors 8.3 million shekels. The Marker.
  30. "Israel Institute on Cognitive Accessibility website". Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  31. Israel’s Ono College: the dream of a shared society
  32. A Modern Treatise on the Principle of Legality in Criminal Law

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