Braverman: Increase cancelled
Photo: Danny Machlis
Less than half of students get diploma
Photo: Shaul Golan
Good news and bad news for higher education
Finance Committee chairman claims to have convinced Finance Ministry to forgo 6% hike in tuition while poll center publishes report stating that only 40% of high school graduates are eligible for college, number of university students has come to a standstill
Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Avishai Braverman told Ynet Monday that he believes the Ministry of Finance will consent to his request and forgo the 6% hike in academic tuition it had formerly planned to implement this year.
Braverman claimed he had convinced the ministry that if the tuition is increased the academic year would
The Brain Drain
Yaheli Moran Zelikovich
US universities are sending a record-breaking number of headhunters to scout for Israeli scholars dissatisfied with Israel's higher education, amounting to a significant rise in immigration
However this, as it turns out, is not the nation's most serious concern regarding higher education. Adva Center, an Israeli policy analysis organization, has reported that only 40% of Israeli students are eligible to apply to higher education facilities, and that the number of students at these facilities has come to a standstill in recent years.
The report also revealed that only 82% of teens completed the 12th grade in 2007. In recent years, around half of Israel's high school students graduated without a diploma. Of those who earned their diplomas, 13% were not eligible to study in higher education facilities.
During the years 1998-2006, only 30% of high school graduates went on to study in college or university. "Israel is way behind compared to other developed and progressive countries, and this is a huge problem," says Shlomo Svirsky, who heads Adva Center. "We are talking about Israel's major future economic power, which is weakening."
The report also stressed the gaps caused by socio-economic parameters. In affluent and middle class areas the percentage of high school graduates eligible for a diploma is 68%, while in underprivileged settlements the percentile drops: 31% among Bedouin settlements, and 36% in Arab towns, for example.
Zvi Lavi contributed to this report
