Academic Year and Language of Instruction in Israel
Academic Year in Israel
The school year in Israel for kindergartens, primary schools, high schools and teacher training colleges commences on September 1 of each year. Given below is the annual timeline of the school year in Israel:
- Commencement of School Year: September 1st
- Jewish New Year: 24-26 September
- Yom Kippur: 3-4 October
- Sukkot: 8-17 October
- Chanukah: 19-23 December
- Tu: 4 February
- Purim: 4-6 March
- Passover: 29 March-April 12
- Independence Day: 23 April
- Lag B’Omer: 7 May
- Jerusalem Day: 17 May
- Pentecost: 24-25 May
- Summer Vacation: July
- Fast of Gedaliah: 28 September
- Tenth of Tevet: 1 January
- Fast of Esther: 4 March
- Seventeenth of Tammuz: 5 July
- Tisha B'Av: 26 July
- Memorial Day Rehavam Ze'evi: 23 October
- Memorial Day for Yitzhak Rabin: 5 November
- Memorial Day for the late David Ben-Gurion: 27 November
- Zion Memorial Day Ze'ev Jabotinsky: 1 January
- Memorial Day late Joseph Trumpeldor: 2 March
- Day of Holocaust Remembrance: 16 April
- Memorial Day: 22 April
- Score Theodor Herzl day late: 7 July
- Guardian vacation: 12 July
For universities following the semester system, the following timeline is followed:
Semester 1 | Mid October to February |
Semester 2 | Early March to August |
Language of Instruction in Israel
Medium of Instruction: Hebrew is the main language of instruction in Israeli institutions of higher education. Arabic is the language of instruction at 3 teacher training colleges and Arab teacher centres. Certain bachelor’s degree programmes are taught in English. In some higher educational institutions, the three to four year undergraduate courses have the first year in English followed by subsequent years in Hebrew medium. Given below is the tentative list of academic institutions which offer programmes in English:
- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Bar Ilan University/Ramat Gan
- Tel Aviv University
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev/Be’er Sheva
- Technion - Israel Institute of Technology/Haifa
- IDC Herzliya – The Interdisciplinary Centre
- The Jerusalem College of Technology – JCT