US university seeks to open branch in Nazareth, faces obstacles

Texas A&M University’s plan to open a branch in Nazareth has been hampered by its inability to find a suitable investor.

University representatives met with the mayor of Nazareth to discuss the possibility of entering into a partnership to finance the establishment of the university after the Israeli Council for Higher Education refused to support the university and provide it with funds.

The American university, which specialises in engineering and energy, plans to open a campus in Nazareth, but obstacles starting to emerge as the meeting between the university and the representatives of the Council for Higher Education showed that that the College of Engineering, which plans to open at the university, will not be funded and supported by the Israeli Council for Higher Education.

According to the Israeli economic newspaper, the Marker, representatives of the university came out of their meeting with the Council for Higher Education with the impression that the council does not intend to recognise the university and grant it the necessary licences. This forced the university’s administrators to allocate $50 million to finance its activities for several years until the Israeli institutions look into the possibility of recognising it and supporting it financially.