Israel is trying to draw more American students: eight leading universities in the United States will launch study-abroad programs in Israel this year.
The programs will send American students from participating universities to one- semester in the Jewish state, and grant them credit points that will be recognized by American universities.
Harvard University, Columbia University, New Jersey City University and the University of Michigan will collaborate with Jerusalem's Hebrew University.
The University of Maryland and the University of Florida will join efforts with Haifa University; Washington University will cooperate with The Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya (IDC), and Miami University will launch a program in Carmiel.
The participating American and Israeli institutions will receive an initial grant of $50,000 from the Jewish Agency.
MASA Israel, a joint project of the government and the Jewish Agency, conceived the new program with the aim of increasing the number of foreign students attending academic institutions in Israel .
"The goal is to draw more students to Israel," explained MASA CEO Ayelet Shilo.