Hebrew University Announces $3,200,000 Plan for Post-war Expansion

A large-scale expansion of the facilities of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in the five-year period following the war were outlined here today by Rector Dr. Leon Mayer and Administrator Dr. Werner Senator.

The University hands told a press conference that chief aims of the reconstruction program – which they estimated would require more than $3,000,000 – were establishment of a medical school and of a school of economics and social and sciences to train administrators for the Jewish national institutions, the Jewish municipalities here, the Palestine Government and, also, Jewish communities in Europe.

Stressing the great role that the university must play in the period after the war because of the destruction of the cultural facilities of European Jewry, Dr. Mayer and Senator divulged that the university also plans enlargement of its research facilities, expansion of its library and training of teachers for service in Palestine and abroad. They said that special emphasis has been placed on establishment of a medical school because of the anticipated shortage of Jewish doctors in the decade following the war owing to the fact that Jews have been excluded from the medical schools of most of Europe in recent years.

The funds necessary to finance this ambitious program fall into two categories, money needed for current expenditures over a five-year period, and that required to great and equip the buildings which will house the new schools. They estimated that about $1,200,000 will be needed for current expenses, while about $2,000,000 will be required for capital expenditure. The first amount, they said, must be secured by increased fund-raising drives in Palestine and among the Jews throughout the world, while the latter amount should be raised by large non-recurrent contributions from wealthy individuals.