Israel is not exhausting its full potential. There is an immediate need to change direction and adopt a responsible and far-sighted national science policy - so states the first "State of Science in Israel 2013" report by the Israel National Academy of Sciences which will be submitted tomorrow to the Science Committee and the Minister of Science in the Knesset
A comprehensive report on the state of science in Israel - 2013 - 23 was prepared and presented for the first time by the Israel National Academy of Sciences. The report will be submitted to the chairman of the Science and Technology Committee, MK Moshe Gafni and the Minister of Science and Technology, Yaakov Perry at a celebratory meeting of the committee tomorrow, Wednesday, October 2013, XNUMX. The report will be presented by the President of the Academy, Prof. Ruth Arnon, and the Speaker of the Knesset will also participate in the meeting MK Yuli Edelstein, committee members and members of the Academy of Sciences.
The report reviews the achievements of Israeli science, the problems that threaten the future of the higher education system in Israel, and the steps required to return it to the impressive path it walked in the past.
The report, which will be submitted following an amendment to the Academy Law, is intended to present the state of research in Israel in an international comparison, states that "an immediate change of direction" is needed in the government's relationship to the scientific research system, and lists a series of recommendations. "The government's policy which in the past led to the "lost decade"... was harmful and against the national interest. There is therefore an essential need to change the face of things" - states the report.
Being the first, the report reviews the development of science in Israel and notes a number of notable achievements on an international scale in the fields of science and thought in recent decades. The report states that "Israel is a state of science and technology... which ranks first in the world ranking of advanced countries. Israeli scientific fertility and excellence are among the highest in the world."
Another part of the report reveals the economic side of the academic cooperation between Israel and the world and reviews the significant cooperation with the European Union that began with Israel's accession as an accompanying member of the European Union's R&D programs. As of December 2012, participation fees of 407.9 euros were transferred from Israel to the Union in accordance with the agreement, while the reimbursement for research grants received by Israeli entities reached a total of about 636 million euros (over NIS 3 billion), of which 430.6 million euros went to universities and another 152.5 million euros to industry.
However, the report indicates that these achievements stem from past investments, and that today the state is forced to "pick the last fruits" of these investments. The authors of the report outline how international science activity has changed in recent decades, a development that has led to greater competition and the need for increasing investment, also in international cooperation. The report shows several alarming signs, including:
• Academic faculty in universities: The report shows that the number of senior academic faculty members in universities decreased by 7.6% from 15 to 26 and the number of jobs for junior faculty members decreased by 16% during the same period, while the number of students was increasing. This is how Israel reached a situation where the average number of students per senior faculty member is XNUMX compared to XNUMX in the OECD countries.
• When monitoring the fields of knowledge and research in the academic system, an alarming situation emerges in many areas, including in the humanities, and especially in a field of research that has become central in recent years - gas and oil research. The Academy recognized the problem a year ago and established two committees appointed by the President of the Academy. The committees that examined the issue came to the conclusion that there are large knowledge gaps in this field and that there are almost no renowned independent researchers in the Israeli academic community. According to the conclusions of their work, the Academy determined that a large part of the geological knowledge is confidential and is in the hands of the commercial entities and is not available to the research community in Israel and this requires immediate action.
• About 60% of the national expenditure on research and development in the past was allocated to universities; Today only - 17% - a fact that places Israel at the bottom of the ranking of OECD countries (where the average is 23%).
• In the number of scientific publications per capita - Israel was ranked first in the world in the 80s, and dropped to 13th place.
"In order not to endanger Israel's position in the world, it is necessary to immediately correct the reality reflected in the academy's report - states Prof. Ruth Arnon, president of the Israel National Academy of Sciences. Arnon adds that the report, submitted to the Knesset and the government, emphasizes the fact that we are now at a crossroads and are required to adopt a new, responsible, topical and far-sighted national science policy.
A special chapter in the report is dedicated to recommendations, first of all the urgent need to increase public investment in scientific research, especially in equipment, laboratories and research budgets. "Changing this direction is the necessity of reality" emphasize the authors of the report who warn: "damage to the budgets of the higher education system and research support must be prevented at all costs."
The report was compiled by a special committee headed by the president of the academy Prof. Ruth Arnon. The committee lists ten key actions necessary to return Israel to the desired path:
- Increasing public investment in scientific research. The committee states that "the scope of university research budgets in Israel must be based on comparisons with advanced countries. That is, to increase scientific university research budgets at least according to their average rate in the OECD countries (which is 23% of the total R&D budget).
- Non-impairment of the budgets of the higher education system.
- Securing the future of Israeli research and high-tech - to strengthen science teaching in high schools. An important recommendation appearing in the report calls for a significant and immediate increase in the number of middle school and upper school students studying mathematics, physics and chemistry at the 5-unit level and to increase science teaching in high schools.
- Increasing the resources and infrastructure for R&D up to the average level in the West.
- Bringing back outstanding scientists (preventing brain drain).
- Strengthen the relations of the Israeli research system with international research bodies.
- Preservation of extinct research fields - to save departments by concentrating efforts and establishing a coordinating body.
- Maintaining the level of the humanities and social sciences.
- Expanding accessibility to additional population groups.
- Recruiting young faculty for universities.
The president of the academy also says that: "The Israeli science system has proven time and time again its ability to translate financial investment into major breakthroughs, especially on an international scale. Today's Israel is not reaching its full potential. Today there is an urgent need to return to the broad world view of the founders of the state, who saw science as the most promising national channel of investment for the people of Israel - that would ensure the existence and prosperity of the state in the future."
The Israel National Academy of Sciences was founded by law in 1961 and works to promote research in the academic system in Israel both in the fields of the natural sciences as well as the humanities and social sciences. Its members are about 111 scientists and researchers from the most prominent in Israel. The Academy serves as an official advisor to the Israeli government in matters related to science and research, and one of its main roles is to develop relationships with science academies and science organizations around the world.
The report is simultaneously published on the Academy's website
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Uncle
Apart from being ashamed, grumbling and obstructing the proper course of the government, like the other oppositionists and the despised left-wing organizations that have been doing this for 30 years... what is your solution?
Do we really understand where the money is - or, what kind of country do we have?
The state distributes money!
Privileges and discrimination ("preference") "corrective"
do not bring -
Not for equality
and not for equal opportunities.
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The state distributes money and tears the people apart - each group stands in line to receive its share - and the people are divided into segments, segments with interests:
A kibbutz of gangs fighting for the loot -
(partial list as of May 1999)
The teachers demand supplements, the pensioners ask for subsidies, the disabled want grants, the ultra-Orthodox are tight on the unique funds, doctors deserve respectable salaries, students deserve serious discounts, Holocaust survivors demand compensation, contractors want tax reductions, industrialists want subsidies, yes farmers, yes merchants, aid to their owners Taxis, exempt for entrepreneurs - the young couples, the discharged soldiers, the new immigrants, the families with many children, the settlers, the yeshiva students, the rescuers, Jerusalem, the Negev, the Galilee, the development towns, the conflict line settlements, the disabled, the battered women, the retarded, the judges, the Druze local authorities and the Circassians, the Arab local authorities, the local authorities in general, the blind, the movie people, the port workers, the National Insurance workers, the carriers, the bereaved families, the IDF orphans, the Shas, the "El Ma'ayan" education network, the "suckers" reservists , the Arab sector, university lecturers, start-up companies, foreign investors, and venture capital funds - (tax-exempt), aid to the airlines, "to save the collapsing hotel industry", "Penicia" - Yeruham, the children at risk (internal) , the employees of the Ministry of Welfare, the National Insurance, the workers of the ports, customs and VAT, the courts, administration and economy in the government hospitals, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Land Registry Office, the professors at the Academy, the promotion of the status of women, the law of families with many children, the band "Bat- Generation", "The Cinema Law", The Disabled Again, "The Negev Law", "Bagir" factory, "Bagir" factory workers, "The lands of the farmers", the "National Priority" map, the lands of the kibbutzim, the deaf-mutes, the repentant, The recurring question, an absorption basket for all immigrants, compensation for training for fictitious degrees, the lawyers (2010), the ants (2010), the doctors (2010), the homeless (2011), encouraging capital investments (1959-2013), The National Academy of Sciences recommends to the government to immediately increase the budget for academic scientific research, etc., etc., etc.,... every day a group is added....to infinity!!!...(Is there room on the page?...)
Every group threatens and every group with power, or without power, extorts from the state....everything is a sectoral relationship....
What is it?
After all, democracies - the - the - the - the - the - the - the - the - the - the rights - the individual
The distribution of wealth/national happiness - at whose expense?...
A country of suckers?
"The citizen is a milky atonement for the government"?
State of atheism of welfare/mixed economy (collectivist state) = state of looters.
* See: Glossary *
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State of Israel:
The state of privileges (privileges) and discrimination ("preference"?) that "corrects".
Only the "regulars" don't get what they deserve...
why?
Don't they have a right to their lives and the fruit of their labor?
* "Mandatory" "Free" recruitment **
* "Compulsory" "Free" education **
* Health "Mandatory" "Free" **
* "Mandatory" "Free" taxes **
* and so on...
** The question: "mandatory" for whom (?) - and "free" for whom (?)
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* Atheism
The principle or policy of concentrating economic, political, and similar control in the hands of the state at the expense of individual freedom.
Atheism of the welfare/mixed economy
The most common form of government in the "free" countries of the world today. A mixture of welfare state - and free market, supervision - and freedom, of a semi-socialist state - or in the worst case, fascist - and at the same time semi-capitalist.
Absolutely: Israel is dear to us!... Literally.
Israel has higher poverty rates than Greece, in addition to unusual security expenses. The tax money that will be received from the gas rewards will also go to a government fund that will invest in American banks and assets. There is a need for streamlining and a change in priorities.