Ariel University Center of Samaria is at the forefront of a dramatic change that is taking place in higher education in Israel.

Located in the City of Ariel, a bustling community of 20,000 people in the Samarian hills, the University Center is helping to pioneer a new future for Israel and its younger generation. Established in 1982, the University Center has since grown and diversified to meet the new challenges of a burgeoning society with rapidly changing needs.

Ariel University Center of Samaria is the largest of its kind and one of the fastest-growing academic institutions in the country, with 8,500 students, representing the full spectrum of Israeli society: Jew & Arab, secular & observant, new immigrant & veteran Israeli.

Students from across the country attend the University Center, with 70% coming from the greater Tel Aviv area and central Israel and the remainder from northern and southern Israel. As such, the school is a truly national institution and serves as a ?melting pot? for all levels of Israel's society.

As a demonstratively Zionist institution, the University Center has two key requirements: every student must study one course per semester on some aspect of Judaism, Jewish heritage or Land of Israel studies, and the Israeli flag must be displayed in every classroom, laboratory and auditorium on campus.