On Tuesday February 11th, USyd confirmed a long-standing exchange program between the Sydney College of the Arts and Israeli institute Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design will not be renewed, following the conclusion of their contractual agreement in September 2025.
A university spokesperson confirmed the exchange will come to an end in an email to Honi Soit, citing reasons of unpopularity. The statement read:
“After careful consideration, we recently informed Bezalel Academy that we do not intend to renew our exchange program agreement with them. In total, just 10 University of Sydney students have undertaken an exchange at Bezalel and none since Semester 1 2015, and this was a key factor in our decision.
We continue to believe in the importance of international exchanges and partnerships for fostering learning and understanding, including student exchanges – and our student mobility schemes to Israel provide opportunities for our students to gain valuable insights and international perspectives into the complexities of the Middle East.
Our ties with Israeli and other institutions remain in place because we are committed to academic freedom, freedom of speech, and human rights as the University’s central pillars.
DFAT travel advice will continue to determine any University-related travel to the region.”
The University further released a statement online yesterday, with an expansion noting that “Recent advocacy against this student exchange had nothing to do with the University’s decision not to renew the arrangement and any suggestion that it did is completely false.”
The Bezalel Academy agreement has faced continued scrutiny, notably from Students Against War (SAW) since 2024, after a FOI request revealed that the agreement was renewed as recently as 2020. Criticism has particularly focused on the establishment of an emergency sewing centre in October 2023, which repaired and constructed uniforms for the Israel Defense Forces.
In a media release posted on Wednesday, SAW member Angus Dermody said “USyd dropping the exchange program with Bezalel is a great victory for the Palestine movement on campus.” He further called remaining partnerships with Israeli institutions “shameful” and “demanded Albanese and Labor immediately sanction apartheid Israel” and “end the repression of Palestine protests on campus.”
In response to the cited reason of unpopularity, Dermody said “The program was renewed in 2020, long after students stopped participating. There is no doubt that the decision to scrap the program now is the direct result of over a year of campaigning on campus.”
Partnerships between USyd and both the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Technion remain in place. The Technion Exchange Scholarship was not awarded for 2025 due to “current expert travel advice for Israel.”
