Action Plan

How the Israeli National Coordinating Team proposes to improve Society Well Being and Quality of Life in Israel is best illustrated by exposing the basic philosophy and mission of the InterDisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya.

The following has been taken from the IDC website.

1) Founding Statement of IDC

A university that was planned with "the humane foundation" described by Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl, who foresaw the Jewish State and after whom the City of Herzliya was named 70 years ago.

A university that will cultivate freedom of thought, research, and self-realization.

A university that will strive for interdisciplinary training, will cultivate scientific and professional excellence, and will imbue its students with a broad cultural background and a vision that has international horizons.

A university that will help remove the walls of hostility in the Middle East, will serve students of all religions from this region and the rest of the world, will emphasize, in its research and its teaching, the importance of development and free movement in the space that is the cradle of humane culture, and will advance the principles of peace, freedom and dignity for mankind.

A university that will have an obligation to the community in which it is located and to its heritage, will be sensitive to social justice, and will help enrich the educational system and pre-college education.

Today the Interdisciplinary Center begins its activities in business, law, and technology studies in Herzliya, as the first stage in establishing a university.

The Interdisciplinary Center is the foundation of a house of study, research, guidance, and learning for the residents of Israel and the region and for Jewish youth from the Diaspora.

2) Principles and Aims

1. The Interdisciplinary Center's innovative approach is considerably different from that of other academic institutions in Israel in that it involves integrating disciplines and great responsibility to society.

2. The Interdisciplinary Center aspires to provide its graduates with a profound and extensive education in a variety of arenas, and to motivate them to utilize the interdisciplinary approach that is an indispensable ingredient of success in the international business arena in the 21st Century.

3. The Interdisciplinary Center will meticulously seek to employ on its faculty qualified teachers of international repute who combine academic excellence with real-world experience.

4. The Interdisciplinary Center is a non-profit institution that was established to serve the public. The center does not receive assistance from the government budgetary system for higher education and enjoys complete academic and administrative freedom.

5. The Interdisciplinary Center sees itself as committed to the fundamental principles of a free and tolerant society, starting with the freedom of each individual for self-realization in every aspect of his or her intellectual and practical life. The center will work to strengthen these principles in Israeli society and to encourage its students to act in their spirit.

3) An Alternate Model for the Academy

The Interdisciplinary Center aspires to become a university that brings distinctive tidings to Israeli academia. Its academic approach is characterized by an interdisciplinary spirit par excellence; its organizational framework ensures it financial independence; its face is turned toward the international business community. The center's main goal is to provide professional training to Israelis in the fields of business, politics, law, and computer science, with a wide-ranging view of the environment of the 21st Century. The center will operate international programs in English, bringing together outstanding Israeli students with their counterparts from around the world. This also will allow the center to familiarize its students with the nature of the world beyond Israel's borders.

The founders of the center dreamed of and established an alternate model for the academy. It is an academy that strives to be equal to the greatest institutions of higher education in the world and to become a source of inspiration to the university system in every nation.

4) Interdisciplinarism - The New Business Language

The frequent changes that are occurring in the world and the region, present new challenges to university graduates, challenges different from those their predecessors faced. The international markets and their opening to the Israeli entrepreneur necessitates imparting additional knowledge and the ability to communicate in the new international language, which is based on interdisciplinary knowledge of business, law, computers, and more. Interdisciplinarism is the intellectual ability to relate to a given problem from various viewpoints at the same time and to find a solution that combines them all.

The international academic world is only at the beginning of the path of interdisciplinary education. The Interdisciplinary Center aspires to continue to develop its unique talents and to thus be one of the leaders of the international academic development in this field.

5) A Look at the Middle East

The founders of the Interdisciplinary Center believe that trade and cultural ties will develop between all the states of the Middle East in the future. To derive the maximum benefit from these future developments, we must observe the societies surrounding us, get to know them and their business, legal, and political cultures. The Interdisciplinary Center will work to further the free exchange of ideas and goods in the region and to foster individual freedoms and the appreciation of peace.

6) Academic and Administrative Independence

The Interdisciplinary Center is a private, non-profit institution. It is managed as a company that serves the public and does not provide revenue to its founders or to any other outside source. Its expenses are covered fully by tuition and donations. The Interdisciplinary Center makes a point of not receiving a budget or subsidy from the government budgetary system for higher education in order to maintain complete academic and administrative freedom; its only obligation is to its students and their education. The center's administration reserves for itself the right to make all budgetary decisions regarding setting tuition fees, faculty salaries, and development plans.

The center charges its students a realistic tuition, and provides its faculty with a fair salary. The center's founders, who aspire to offer a quality education equal to that available at elite foreign universities, believe that this is the way to stimulate its faculty members to strive for excellence, to continually test curriculums and teaching methods, to be involved with, take interest in and learn about the students, and to constantly keep up with developments in the international marketplace and knowledge.