The Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) today announced that it has been awarded a $9 million grant from the Leona M. & Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to help fund the construction of the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences Building on the College’s new Tal Campus for Women. The grant represents one of the Trust’s largest-ever gifts to an Israeli institution.
JCT’s Faculty of Life and Health Sciences includes one of the largest nursing programs in Israel, serving more than 1,000 students annually. It is widely recognized as the country’s premier nursing program, having received the Israeli Ministry of Health’s National Prize for Excellence, ranking first among 24 nursing departments nationwide.
“We are pleased to help JCT start construction of its new Tal Campus for Women,” said Sandor Frankel, one of Helmsley’s Trustees. “This new facility will expand JCT’s excellent nursing degree programs, allow it to grow its student body, and help to alleviate the unfortunate shortage of nurses in Israel. We are committed to supporting quality healthcare in Israel, and enabling JCT to graduate more highly-trained nurses and other medical personnel will be a win for the country.”
With only 5.1 nurses per 1,000 people, Israel is near the bottom of the 37 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations. Today, as the COVID-19 crisis exposes Israel’s shortage of nurses and other health professionals, JCT is strongly positioned to play an even more significant role in addressing this crisis as a result of the Helmsley Charitable Trust’s support for the state-of-the-art Faculty of Life and Health Sciences Building.
This week we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), which commemorates the reunification of the city and the progress we have made in making Jerusalem a religious, cultural and business powerhouse,” said Jerusalem Mayor, Moshe Leon. “For the past 50 years, JCT has been woven into the fabric of the city, contributing breakthrough research and technology, along with a highly skilled work force to Jerusalem. I’m confident that this grant and their new Tal Campus will only amplify these contributions in the years to come.”
JCT’s nursing program offers a Bachelor of Science of Nursing (BSN) as well as a Master’s of Nursing (MSN) with Nurse Practitioner (NP) certification — the first program of its kind in Israel. In cooperation with the University of Toronto, JCT offers a program in Health Informatics and also offers Israel’s only BSc degree in Bioinformatics. These disciplines combine JCT’s well-respected computer science program with life sciences education. 
Helmsley’s gift will go toward erecting a four-story, 60,000-square-foot building equipped with advanced medical simulation training labs, lecture halls, classrooms, faculty offices, and a library for the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences. Upon the building’s completion, the building and the faculty will be named the Leona M. & Harry B. Helmsley Faculty of Life and Health Sciences. When complete, the Tal Campus will also house engineering departments, business management and accounting programs, and computer science programs.
Pr Chaim Sukenik
“We are profoundly grateful to the Helmsley Trust for their generous gift to our nursing department and to our new Tal Campus for Women,” said JCT President Prof. Chaim Sukenik. “The Coronavirus pandemic, has reminded us all of the critical importance of nursing and medical infrastructure. This gift will provide the country with thousands of highly-skilled medical personnel for decades to come.”