This is according to a report issued by the Central Bureau of Statistics. According to the report, almost half of the foreigners are from India * The leading universities in employing postdoctoral students in research - the Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute
The Central Bureau of Statistics published a report surveying PhD holders who were engaged in post-doctoral research at Israeli universities in 2021.
In 2021, 3,321 PhD holders were engaged in post-doctoral research, more than half of them foreigners. The rest are Israelis, most of whom completed their doctoral studies in the USA but for various reasons asked to do their post-doctoral research in Israel. The leading universities in employing postdoctoral researchers are the Weizmann Institute and the Hebrew University.
Like all over the world, universities and research foundations in Israel grant living scholarships to some master's and third degree students, and to post-doctorate researchers. The information presented in the announcement refers to Israeli and foreign PhD researchers who received a post-doctorate scholarship in 2021 at one of the universities in Israel, and engaged in research within this framework. The scholarships are funded from various sources such as: research budgets of the universities or the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Education and research funds. They allow the researcher to devote all his time to research, without the need to combine other work. A post-doctoral researcher has a third degree that pays off in university research, usually in the first years after receiving the degree, and usually at a different institution than the one where he received his third degree. The research It is carried out as part of an existing research group or accompanied by a supervisor from the academic institution.
In the study, the academic research fields were reviewed according to the following classification: education and training for teaching, law, medicine, business and management sciences, art, arts and applied arts, agriculture, social sciences, auxiliary medical professions, languages, literature and regional studies, and biological sciences.
In 2021 the annual rate of change in the number The Israeli researchers (10%), was higher than the rate of change for all researchers participating in post-doctoral studies (7%).
In 2021, foreign PhD holders from 72 countries in the world engaged in post-doctoral research in Israel. They were, among others, from India (47.2%), China (11.5%), Germany (5.6%), the USA (4.8%), Italy (3.9%), France (3.4%) and Brazil, Spain and Russia (1.7% each of which).
More than 44% of researchers with a PhD (Israeli and foreign) were engaged in post-doctoral research at two universities: 25.6% at the Hebrew University and 19.1% at the Weizmann Institute.
62.5% of the researchers who participated in post-doctoral studies (foreigners and Israelis), received their third degree from an academic institution abroad, 16.7% of them were Israelis.
In the last 10 years, the median age of PhD recipients in Israel increased from 35.4 in 2010 to 37.1 (in 2019). In 2021, the median age among Israeli post-doctoral students was 38 years with no difference between men and women. The age of 28.5% of the Israeli postdoctoral students was up to 35, and 14.0% - over 45.
The percentage of foreign researchers was higher than the average (52.1%) in the fields of academic research: physical sciences (75.1%), mathematics, statistics and computer sciences (69.4%), and engineering and architecture (60.9%).
Reports from the universities indicate that due to the impact of the Corona epidemic, some of the studies planned for 2020 and 2021 were not carried out.
