The current resident: single, young, with a PhD in mathematics or computer science
A review conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics for the National R&D Council at the Ministry of Science shows that in 2011, approximately 5% of Israeli academics stayed abroad for three years or more. And what characterizes the Israelis who stay abroad? The rate of those who stay among those with a PhD in mathematics is the highest, the rates are also higher among university graduates compared to colleges, the age of those who stay when receiving the degree is younger on average than their counterparts who stayed in Israel and many of them are single. Also, the rate of Israeli men staying abroad is higher than the rate of women.
The review examined the proportion of Israelis who stayed abroad in 2011 for at least three years among those who received academic degrees in Israel between 1985 and 2005. The review was based on administrative files of degree recipients in Israel. These files were received for the data of exits and entries into Israel. Examining the time period between 2005 and 2011 allows one to see a trend of the beginning of settling abroad, since a period of six years is beyond the time required to complete a post-doctorate and/or acquire an additional degree. This is the first survey that examines a time span large enough to indicate a phenomenon of settling abroad. However, it is not yet possible to indicate an improvement or worsening trend.
According to the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, "in recent years, the Israeli government has taken several steps to encourage Israeli academics to return to Israel, such as the centers of excellence that are in the process of being established, and special programs of the Ministry of Absorption and the Ministry of Science and Technology that are in the implementation stages. Therefore, I believe that in the coming years we will begin to see a decrease in the proportion of Israeli academics staying abroad."
According to the review, the percentage of Israelis staying abroad is particularly high among those with a third degree (10.5%) and among those with a master's degree in medicine (7.2%). In contrast, the proportion of bachelor's and master's degree holders staying abroad is 4.8% and 4.2% respectively. The phenomenon is particularly common among those with a third degree in the fields of science and engineering - in this group, the proportion of those staying abroad for three years or more is 14%, four times higher than those with degrees in the humanities and social sciences (3.8%).
The data show that the stay abroad is postponed to later stages in the career, and the move abroad is made several years after receiving the degree. For example, the proportion of those who received their degree between 2011/2002 and 3/2004 who are staying in 5 is relatively low (2.5%) compared to the proportion of those who received their degree between 1984/5 and 1986/7 (8.1%) ).
In general, the proportion of those staying is greater among university graduates compared to colleges - 5.8% versus 3.4% respectively. Among university graduates, the highest proportion of those staying is among graduates of the Weizmann Institute of Science - 17.8%, followed by the Technion with 9%, the Hebrew University with 7.1%, Tel Aviv University with 6.9%, Ben-Gurion University with 4.3% while the lowest proportion is Among Bar Ilan University graduates - 2.9%. Among the academic colleges, the highest rate of stay is among those receiving degrees from the Academy of Music and Dance (19.8%) followed by those receiving degrees from Bezalel (7.6%). The lowest rate of those staying abroad is among degree recipients from academic teaching colleges (1.5%).
Examining the academic subjects of those who stay, it appears that the proportion of graduates in the subject of mathematics who stay abroad is particularly high - of the 399 recipients of a third degree in this field during the period under review, approximately 22% stayed abroad in 2011, as did 10.3% of the recipients of the first degree and -16.7% of master's degree recipients. There is also a high proportion of computer science degree holders - 7.7% of bachelor's degree holders, 14.5% of master's degree holders and 18.6% of third degree holders in the field. Another interesting statistic is that more than a fifth of the recipients of the bachelor's degree in music during this period stay abroad.
"The data show that the phenomenon is particularly strong among those with degrees in the fields of exact sciences, medicine and the arts - it is easier for those with these degrees to transfer their knowledge abroad, compared to professions such as law and teaching, where the knowledge and skills are more specific to the location," says the chairman of the council National Institute for R&D at the Ministry of Science, Prof. (resp.) Yitzhak Ben-Israel.
Another characteristic of those staying abroad, according to the current review, is their relatively young age when they received their degree. Among all degree recipients staying abroad, it was found that they received the degree at a younger age than their counterparts who stayed in Israel. The smallest age gap is among those receiving a master's degree in medicine and the largest among those receiving a PhD in the humanities and social sciences (a difference of over 5 years in the median age).
In a cross-section by sex, it appears that as of 2011, the proportion of men (5.8%) who stayed abroad is 1.4 times higher than the proportion of women (4.2%) among the recipients of degrees in all fields. This gap is preserved even when comparing the genders in terms of degree and field of study.
The rate of stay is relatively high among the immigrants, and especially among the immigrants from the USSR who received a third degree in Israel, more than a quarter of whom stayed abroad in 2011, and among the immigrants from the United States who received a master's degree in medicine in Israel (19.6%).
Marital status is a significant factor in the prolonged stay abroad: the proportion of singles with a bachelor's degree without children staying abroad is double the proportion of married people - 10.3% of singles aged 45+ compared to 4.4% of married people with children of these ages, and 5% compared to 1.3% of those aged 34 -30.
However, close to 6.7% of those who stayed more than three years abroad in 2010 are not defined as staying abroad in 2011. The rate of returnees was relatively high among those with a master's degree (7.5%) and relatively low among those with a third degree (4.1%) . The rate of returnees to Israel among those with a bachelor's degree was 6.8% and among those with a master's degree in medicine was 5.5% in 2011.
