Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Program

Sciences Po Bordeaux and its two Israeli partner institutions have recently renewed the Erasmus+ Project for 2019-2022, continuing the program’s mission to encourage and support student and faculty mobility to and from Israel.

Ben Gurion University and Interdisciplinary Center occupy distinct and complementary places in the landscape of Israeli academia, and in being so they respond to the diverse needs and interests of students: A large public university in Beer Sheva at the frontier of the Negev and a smaller multi-disciplinary private institute in Tel Aviv, the economic and cultural capital of the country.

Founded in 1969, Ben Gurion University (BGU) possesses today the most productive research institutes among Israeli universities, with 20,000 students located across 5 disciplines. BGU was the first Israeli university to establish an international office to foster international academic relations. While the Israeli higher education system has traditionally gravitated towards the North American continent, BGU has chosen to create and strengthen ties with Europe. BGU currently holds over 50 Erasmus+ partnerships and has an international student percentage of 5 percent; a priority of its international mission is to increase this percentage, notably from France.

Two centers of study for Sciences Po Bordeaux students at BGU

Overseas Student Programme offers an English curriculum that is adapted for students from Sciences Po Bordeaux, notably in history and political science. Students have the option to also take coursework under the Department of Politics and Government in the College of Social Sciences. The research program and numerous courses in English in political sociology, contemporary history, and geopolitics offered make the program very attractive for our students.

Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) is a private higher education institution located in Tel Aviv that offers nationally recognized diplomas (mikhlala). IDC has a particularly strong international presence: 30% of its students are international (2000 in number), and many of its faculty members come from abroad and are internationally recognized in their disciplines. A number of its 9 colleges teach exclusively in English, while others offer a bilingual curriculum of Hebrew and English. The institution is active in over twenty Erasmus+ Projects. Its international strategy is focused on fostering reciprocal exchanges, and not on the quantity of partnerships. In addition, France is a highly-demanded destination by its student community and its two research centers are also structured around similar themes to those of Sciences Po Bordeaux.

Sciences Po Bordeaux, Ben Gurion University, and the Interdisciplinary Center share the same approach towards the close relationship between Europe and Israel in many ways: Pedagogy, research, economic culture, peacebuilding, and tourism. The socio-political problems present in Israel can be compared with those in France. The three institutions share the same perspective on internationalization and comparative approaches, as well as common interests in political science, international relations, and economics. Sciences Po Bordeaux’s two CNRS research centers, the Centre Émile Durkheim (CED) and les Afriques dans le monde (LAM), BGU’s research center (mentioned above), and IDC are ideal spaces to meet on these common interests.