Overview

As Israel's oldest and premier institute of science and technology, the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology has been an active and leading participant in Israel's establishment and development. With supreme effort and unyielding dedication, deserts have bloomed, swamps have been transformed into fertile agricultural valleys, and sand has given way to silicon. Israel is now recognized as one of the world's most prominent high-tech innovators, and has been called the second Silicon Valley.

Technion graduates over the last century have been one of the single most substantial forces propelling the country forward, committed to ensuring a bright and prosperous future.

Technion’s more than 90,000 graduates comprise 70 percent of the leaders of the high-tech workforce and have created Israel’s industrial infrastructure, reinforced its defense capabilities, and pioneered its technology-based enterprises. As a result, Israel has the highest concentration of high-tech start-up companies anywhere outside the Silicon Valley.

International giants such as Google, Yahoo!, Intel and IBM, have been attracted to set up R&D facilities in Haifa in order to recruit quality Technion graduates. Technion alumni have devised the world’s first wireless technology microprocessors; first intestinal pill camera; first stand-alone, anti-ballistic missile defense system; leading Internet search engines; the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world and much more.
 

Academics

Technion hosts a very informative and mandatory orientation week for all international students which will take place typically the last week of July. For the academic calendar please visit http://ciar.technion.ac.il/Academic-Calendar/ 

The main teaching language at the Technion is Hebrew.  Courses are now also offered in ENGLISH in the following areas: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Biology, Engineering for Developing Communities.  See course list in English.

General Technion Classes
Aerospace Engineering, Architecture and Town Planning, Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Education in Technology and Science, Electrical Engineering, Humanities and Arts (including Archaeology, Chinese, German, Fine Arts, French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Judaic Studies, Literature, Music, Performing Arts, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Russian, Spanish), Industrial Engineering and Management, Material Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Physics.
 

Student Life

Technion International School of Engineering has a Facebook group and a Google group for English-speaking Technion students: TISUN http://groups.google.com/group/TISUN.  There is a listserve forum for all English-speaking international students on campus.

Students participate in weekly activities throughout the school year.  These include: movie nights, special lectures, day trips, hikes, group dinners, etc.  The International School staff sends out weekly updates to the students regarding academic information, weekly activities, trips, events in Haifa and  around Israel.
 

Housing

During the first two weeks of the program students will stay in temporary housing and will move into permanent dorms in early August.  All International School students will live in the high standard dormitory Complex.   The apartments include 5 single rooms, a shared kitchen/living space and bathroom. The dormitory complex is located near the eastern gate of the Technion and is a short walk  from the Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty building.  The complex contains a computer room, laundry room and student club room.  
 

Location

Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 265,000 within the city proper, and with an additional 300,000 people in the surrounding metropolitan area.  Haifa is home to the Bahá’í World Centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The city is a major seaport located on Israel’s Mediterranean coastline in the Bay of Haifa and plays an important role in Israel’s economy.  It has several high-tech parks, among them the oldest and largest in the country.