Netanya Academic College

Netanya Academic College is situated at 1 University Street in the Kiryat Yitzhak Rabin neighborhood of Netanya, in central Israel's Sharon region.[1][2] The campus includes study halls, computer laboratories, a student-run radio station, a trading room, radio and television studios, a library, sports facilities, an indoor swimming pool, and student residences.[2]

The college describes itself as a nonprofit public institution. It is supervised by the Council for Higher Education (CHE) but does not receive CHE funding; the college links this status to academic and administrative freedom and a strong orientation toward social and community activities.[3][2] A 2018 survey of Israeli higher-education institutions also classified Netanya Academic College as an institution that was not government-budgeted.[4]

A college booklet for the 2025/26 academic year reported more than 3,600 students, about twenty undergraduate and graduate programs, and over 30,000 graduates.[5] Programs include law, business administration, banking and capital markets, communication, behavioral sciences, health systems management, insurance, information systems, computer science and mathematics, real estate, and gerontology.[5] The college's stated educational mission is to train business and scientific leadership for Israel by combining academic instruction with practical experience and lecturers drawn from academia and relevant industries.[2]

The college was established in 1995 by Prof. Zvi Arad, Prof. Bernard Pinchuk, and Prof. Sinai Deutsch.[6][7] Arad was a mathematician who had served as acting president and rector of Bar-Ilan University, and he led Netanya Academic College until 2017.[6][3] Central Bureau of Statistics data for 2003/04 recorded 2,716 first-degree students and 779 first-degree recipients; the recipients included 307 in law, 276 in social sciences, and 196 in computer sciences and natural sciences.[8] By 2005/06, total enrollment had risen to 3,115 students—2,835 pursuing first degrees and 280 pursuing second degrees—across programs including communication, behavioral sciences, business administration, banking, insurance, law, and computer sciences.[9]

In 2002, the college established its School of Banking and Capital Market Studies in its current format, developing a financial program addressing both academic and practical dimensions of banking.[10] The Strategic Dialogue Center opened in 2003 and was described at the time as the first center of its kind in Israel.[11] It aimed to translate research into practical policy recommendations and to convene former heads of state, former security-service chiefs, and conflict-resolution experts.[11] Former South African president F. W. de Klerk, former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev attended its opening ceremony and received honorary doctorates.[11]

In 2017, the college's board of trustees selected Prof. Yaakov Hart as president, replacing Arad in October of that year.[3] Hart had served voluntarily as chairman of the board for more than twenty years and did not participate in the selection process.[3] Arad died in February 2018, approximately four months after leaving the presidency.[6]

A college booklet for the 2025/26 academic year reported enrollment of more than 3,600 students, while a 2022 report had described the student body in rounded terms as numbering around 4,000.[5][12]

The college has pursued programs intended to broaden access to higher education. In 2012, the Council for Higher Education permitted it to open programs for Haredi students in banking and behavioral studies.[13] College president Zvi Arad said the institution was developing a preparatory program for academic study and working with banks and insurance companies to support the future employment of graduates.[13]

The Agnes & Beny Steinmetz Foundation financed 125 scholarship places annually at 8,000 shekels each.[12] By 2022, the foundation reported funding 1,500 scholarships worth approximately $3.5 million. Recipients were asked to complete 100 volunteer hours in programs assisting at-risk young people in Netanya, and scholarship students had collectively contributed more than 100,000 volunteer hours.[12] The college counts Israel Securities Authority chair Anat Guetta among its alumni.[12]

The Law School was established in 1995 and reports thousands of graduates, including attorneys, judges, and senior law lecturers.[14] It emphasizes practical training through legal clinics, lectures by practicing attorneys, and mentoring opportunities with judges, prosecutors, and public defenders. Its three-and-a-half-year program is concentrated into three study days per week.[14]

The School of Banking and Capital Market Studies offers bachelor's and master's degree programs in finance, banking, and capital-market studies under CHE authorization.[10] Students also receive a professional mortgage-counseling certificate.[10] A 2022 report described an integrated bachelor's-and-master's program offered by the Banking and Business Administration faculties as the first of its kind in Israel approved by the CHE and said it could be completed in three and a half years.[15]

The college describes its School of Real Estate as the first in Israel approved by the CHE in that field.[16] Its master's program draws on planning, economics, taxation, marketing, financing, management, and law.[16] The first cohort contained 45 students, of whom 19 joined a ten-day study tour to New York arranged through cooperation involving New York University and Silverstein Properties. Participants met real-estate developers and professionals and attended sessions at NYU.[17]

The School of Behavioral Sciences offers multidisciplinary human-resources programs combining psychology, sociology, anthropology, and management.[18] It operates a psychology research laboratory used by faculty researchers and third-year students conducting empirical projects, and it provides fieldwork placements and research opportunities for outstanding students.[18] Business administration has also been a major field at the college; in 2005/06, all 280 second-degree students recorded by the Central Bureau of Statistics were enrolled in business administration.[9]

The college reports operating research centers at national and international levels with the stated aim of strengthening Israel's resilience.[5] Its Research Authority supports faculty research, publicizes grant opportunities, assists with ethics procedures and grant applications, and promotes collaborations within the college and with researchers at other institutions.[19] The National Library of Israel catalogs a 2016 publication on an Israeli-Palestinian confederation issued jointly by the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Strategic Dialogue and Netanya Academic College and edited by Dr. Yair Hirschfeld.[20]

A 2021 agreement between the college and the University of Kinshasa established a joint academic and scientific research center encompassing information-sharing, exchanges of professors and students, and cooperation in sustainability, technology, infrastructure, water, banking, and capital markets.[21] The partnership was linked to addressing water and agricultural challenges in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[21] During a visit to Israel, DRC President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo received an honorary degree from the college in recognition of his support for science and education, scientific ties, and his commitment to peace and human rights.[21]

In 2013, the college's board voted to award former French president Nicolas Sarkozy an honorary degree, citing his contributions to Israel and the Jewish people and his efforts against racism and antisemitism.[22] Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's network pages list Netanya Academic College as an external academic organization for its departments of Sociology and Anthropology and Business Administration.[23][24] A separate Mathematics Department page gives the same classification.[25]

Student residences known as "Beta" form a substantial part of the campus. The initial complex was built in 2010 and housed approximately 300 students annually.[26] Construction of two additional buildings began in 2014, with completion then expected in September 2015; the expansion was projected to bring capacity to about 400 beds and the full complex to 25,850 square meters.[26]

The residences include studio, shared, and garden apartments with furnishings, air conditioning, free wireless internet, and LCD televisions.[27] Facilities include a student club, sports center, tennis courts, swimming pool, self-service laundry, vending machines, photocopiers, and an office-supply store. The complex is accessible to people with disabilities and includes apartments adapted for wheelchair users.[27]

In late October 2023, the college's student dormitories in Netanya's Kiryat Sharon neighborhood became the site of a significant public confrontation.[28] The dormitories, which house Arab Israeli students, are situated next to a Chabad synagogue and an adjacent school.[28] Following social-media claims that students had hung Palestinian flags and played loud music, several hundred Jewish protesters gathered outside the complex on the evening of October 28, 2023; some chanted "Death to Arabs," and some attempted to break into the building, according to video footage cited by reports at the time.[28]

Police officers dispersed the demonstration and restored order; students who had been trapped inside the building left unharmed.[28] The college stated that police investigated and ruled out the social-media claims regarding flags and music, and also noted that two eggs had been thrown at worshipers leaving the neighboring synagogue, a matter police were separately handling.[28] Accounts of the earlier events and the assignment of responsibility were contested across statements reported at the time, and the full sequence of events was not independently established.