Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU)

You have to be flexible and understanding. With the security situation in Israel right now, the number of students studying abroad there is down from previous years, so the range of courses has been reduced due to inability to fill the classes enough. The teachers are high quality and challenging, but most realize that the students want more than just an academic experience in Israel. Grades for most courses are based on only two grades, midterms and finals. This is good because your time is not consumed with busy work everyday, but it obviously good have its bad side. The midterms and finals are either exams or papers or some combination of both.

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It's great independent research and tutorials are available for students really wanting to study!

Better access to the Library since the computer programs and library databases are not in English. A library run-through would have been really helpful.

A broader selection would be nice, but not necessary for a good experience.

An overview of the library would have been very helpful. It was rather difficult with the language barriers and selection of available resources.

the less students there are in the program, the less classes there are available to choose from, so while the size of the program was a strength in terms of being able to become friends with everyone in it, it was a hindrance academically.

academically, i did not find the program at all challenging, except for Hebrew.

These were my favorite professors: Aref Abu Rabia, Dror Ze'evi, Neve Gordon, Esther Bolbouski (hebrew)

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The courses taught by Israeli instrucors seem to be better than the ones taught by those who are not native Israeli - it seems as if some of the professors got their jobs just because they speak English. Try to seek out the Israeli professors.

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