Our story

Within the magical landscape of Israel's Galilee, overlooking the Blue Valley, is the Zefat Academic College (ZAC), an institution of higher education in the faculties of Health Sciences, Law, Humanities and Social Sciences. The College operates within early 20^th century renovated buildings that cherish and preserve the north's legacy and uniqueness.
The College, located in the northern periphery, is rapidly developing, attracting an increasing number of students every year, and enriching the Galilee with academic and professional training.

The Future Starts Here First
ZAC is located in the periphery, but our devotion to academic excellence and quality higher education has placed us as a leading force in the Galilee. We invite you to take a part in this success story.

Over 2,900 Students study at ZAC!
In the last decade, the number of students at the College increased by 52%! 
Our students come from all sectors of the northern periphery and constitute the diversity of the region's population.
90% of our students are first generation college students.

Academic Excellence Where It Counts

The College is a socio-economic game changer in one of Israel’s poorest regions. The northern periphery is characterized by a low skill/low wage economy. The unemployment rate is higher than the national average and average wages are lower: one-third of residents lives below the poverty line.

ZAC offers academic studies of the highest caliber in cutting edge scientific and technological fields with the warm, individual support only possible in this unique, small setting. Graduates are prepared for well-paying, in-demand jobs and for giving back to their communities.

The impact of the College is felt far beyond the individual student. The future for entire families and communities across the region is being transformed by newly found hope and prosperity. Health outcomes and well-being increase as a result of the College's state-of-the-art Medical Simulation Training Center providing an urgently needed boost to existing institutions.

The College helps to prevent ‘brain drain’ from the North, while attracting students and faculty from the Center to its outstanding academics and beautiful, green Galilee setting.

The College is enriched by its multiculturalism embodied by the students and staff - and supports, encourages and stands for inclusive excellence in all aspects of life.

Inclusive Excellence

Making Excellence Inclusive

ZAC is an academic community that values integrity, curiosity, creativity, excellence, responsibility, and accomplishment. Enriched by our diversity and our engagement with one another, we take pride in our shared traditions and experiences. We are dedicated to building a culture that respects all of its members and celebrates their contributions, as we work together to strengthen our community.

Being a highly diverse and multi-cultural faculty and student community, we are proud to be named the most diverse public institution of higher education in Israel.

The College is a model of Inclusive Excellence; it assimilates diversity efforts into the core of institutional functioning, to realize the educational benefits of diversity. Applying Inclusive Excellence concepts leads to infusing diversity into our institution’s recruiting, admissions, and hiring processes; into our curriculum and co-curriculum, and into our administrative structures and practices. Inclusive Excellence means that we have adopted means for the cohesive, coherent and collaborative integration of diversity and inclusion into our pursuit of excellence. Our model reflects the understanding that diversity and inclusion are catalysts for institutional and educational excellence, and therefore must be invited and integrated into the very core of the educational enterprise, not as isolated initiatives, but as a fundamental component.

Inclusive Excellence at the College consists of four primary elements:

A focus on student intellectual and social development. Academically, it means offering the best possible course of study for the context in which the education is offered.

1. A purposeful development and utilization of organizational resources to enhance student learning. Organizationally, it means establishing an environment that encourages each student to high level academic achievements, and each member of the campus to contribute to learning and knowledge development.
2. Attention to the cultural differences learners bring to the educational experience, that enhance academic life and social interactions.
3. A welcoming community that engages all of its diversity in the service of student and organizational learning.