Tel-Hai Academic College

Tel-Hai University is a university and college located in Tel Hai in northern Israel, with campuses near Kibbutz Kfar Giladi and north of Kiryat Shmona, as well as in Katzrin and within Kiryat Shmona itself. Tel-Hai University (formerly Tel-Hai Regional College) is a university located in the Galilee Panhandle, north of Kiryat Shmona, at the site where the early settlement of Tel-Hai once stood (now part of Kibbutz Kfar Giladi) and the site of a historic battle in 1920. In 2021, it merged with the Ohalo College of Education (located on the Katzrin campus). In May 2024, the Council for Higher Education in Israel approved the college's transition to university status. On January 19, 2026, the Council officially accredited it as a university, completing the process. It is the first university in the Upper Galilee and the third in the Galilee region of northern Israel, following the Technion (1924) and the University of Haifa (1963).

History

In 1957, the Upper Galilee Regional Council established an adult education school and an arts center at Tel Hai. In 1963, vocational education was added. By the mid-1960s, the center served approximately 400-500 members of nearby kibbutzim, randing from high school students to retirees. By the 1970s, the school was renamed the Tel-Hai Regional College and conducted academic programs under the auspices of the University of Haifa.

On 22 May 2024, amidst the aggression of Hezbollah against northern municipalities during the Gaza war, the Israeli Minister of Education Yoav Kisch announced that Tel-Hai Academic College would thereafter become the University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee. The prospects of this coming to fruition are in question, given the College had been evacuated in connection with Israel's war against Hezbollah and Hamas. The University's Knowledge Center has also conducted a study indicating that upwards of 40 percent of evacuated inhabitants may not return to the north (where the University is located) even if the State of Israel wins the war.

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)