Nitza Davidovitch

There are more than 60 institutions of higher education in Israel, including eight universities, the youngest of which is the University of Ariel in Samaria, which has gone from the country’s largest community college to a full-fledged university and a science center. The article describes the general approach to access to higher education in Israeli universities and colleges. The dynamics of one of them – the college, which upgraded its status forty years after the opening of the university by him – are discussed in detail. Ben-Gurion. The influence of the University of Ariel on the development of higher education in the country for forty years has been determined. The Judea and Samaria Academic College paved the way for the university status of other colleges, based on the principle of accessibility to higher education, which set as their goal the high quality and level of education. Has Ariel University achieved the goals that the founders set for it? Paradoxically, the college, which has evolved on the basis of the principle of broad access to higher education, has raised the level of education and led to increased competition between colleges and universities. He made an invaluable contribution to shaping a world view based on the fact that every institution has a special role: while colleges have a purely academic function, universities also do research. This concept, based on market demand considerations, is seen as a possible option for the transformation of the general system of higher education.