The Department of Polymer Materials Engineering M.Sc Research Program

Department Head: Prof. Hannah Dodiuk
Study Term: Two Years
Graduates of this Program receive a M.Sc. Degree in Plastics Engineering.

Following a thorough review of the engineering and scientific infrastructure at Shenkar, the Council for Higher Education accredited and approved the opening of the Plastic Engineering  M.Sc. Research Program.

This approval represents a breakthrough in higher education in Israel, as Shenkar is the first academic institution, which is not a university, whose research potential is recognized by the Council for Higher Education. There is no other institution in Israel teaching for a Master’s Degree in Plastics Engineering.

• The approval for opening the Plastic Engineering M.Sc. Research Program was celebrated in the polymers and plastics industry as well. At the program's festive launching, both Sami Sagol (a prominent Israeli industrialist and the owner of Keter Plastic) and Meir Bar-El (Director of the Israel Plastics and Rubber Industry Society and Deputy Director of the Manufacturers' Association of Israel) expressed the hope that this program would prepare and contribute to the next generation of researchers and developers needed for the advancement of the multi-disciplinary plastics industry.

In 2010, an agreement was signed with the University of Massachusetts in Lowell (UML) to open a joint program for advanced studies in Plastics Engineering. In the framework of this agreement, courses for M.Sc. at UML are recognized for credit points of the M.Sc. program at Shenkar.  A similar agreement was signed with The Polymers Department at the Akron University and one student is due to finish his PhD studies there this year.

The study program at Shenkar includes two routes: a research thesis route or a final project route. The degree received in both routes is the same, M.Sc. in Plastics Engineering, and students studying in both routes can enjoy scholarships granted based on their achievements. However, those opting for the thesis route enjoy also a monthly scholarship financed by the industry and additional funding for their research program, granted by the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Economics, Industry and Commerce and the US-based Pernick Fund.

In addition, Shenkar offers students the use of the Polymers Lab in the name of the late Joseph Sagol and the Nanotechnology Lab, which provide the most advances infrastructure and equipment required for research.