Viva Italia: Hagar Kafri headed to a semester in Italy

In just a few days, Faculty of Engineering student Hagar Kafri will be boarding a plane to Milan, Italy. Her mission: a semester at Politecnico di Milano. “I’ve wanted to do student exchange from the moment I started university, it sounded like an amazing experience,” she says. “I started looking into it during year one, but Covid pretty much put that to bed. Luckily, Prof. Sharon Ganot did not give up, and pointed me in the direction of Politecnico, where he said I would find the courses best suited for my interests.”

Kafri (26) is currently in the process of completing her third year at the Electrical Engineering and Music program (she plays the flute). Her focus in electrical engineering is on signal processing and communication. Prof. Ganot and her are twice involved: once as the Head of the Combined Program, and once as the head of the Signal Processing track. “Sharon tried to help me find a place that would provide an added value and encouraged me to expand my horizons. He recommended Politecnico because he knows the professors there, whose fields of interest match my own; they can provide me with vast knowledge and told me that I couldn’t otherwise get in Israel. Since I’m going on my fourth year, he also made sure that I would do my final project there. It was a huge effort on his part, and I really appreciate it.”

Politecnico di Milano, says Kafri, offers a specialized engineering and music combination, which would enable her to take courses that are highly relevant to her track. In addition to two mandatory courses corresponding with fourth-year courses at the faculty of Engineering, she will be taking an advanced signal processing course that focuses on media file compression (images, music, and video); a computerized music course that explores music from a physical perspective; and a course on the physical analysis of instruments at different frequencies. Al courses are in English. “I want this to be a sort of trial run,” she says, “if it’s a positive experience, I could do my master’s there.”

Kafri’s exchange was made possible thanks to a generous Erasmus+ grant, the EU’s student exchange program, which she received with the support of Bar Ilan University’s International School. “This is a prestigious scholarship and isn’t easy to get. Bar Ilan University’s International School did a fantastic job taking care of us financially and helping with all the arrangements, so this move is much smoother for me than it is to others,” says Kafri. “I think I’m headed towards a significant experience and hope to proudly represent the university.”