The group includes 27 veteran researchers from the Technion, the Weizmann Institute of Science and Ben Gurion University, and in the first year it will receive three returning researchers from prominent universities in the USA
The Minister of Education and Chairman of the National Assembly Gideon Sa'ar, and Chairman of the Committee for Planning and Budgeting, Prof. Manuel Trachtenberg announced today the group chosen to establish the fourth center of excellence, dealing in the field of alternative energies.
In the center of excellence in the field of alternative energies, a group led by Prof. Gideon Gerder from the Technion won. The group includes 27 veteran researchers from the Technion, the Weizmann Institute of Science and Ben Gurion University. Already in its first year, the center will receive at least three more new researchers returning from Harvard, the University of Michigan and the University of Strasbourg. The center will be an Israeli consortium for solar fuels.
The chairman of the judging committee in the field of alternative energies was Dr. Ellen B. Stechel, a researcher at the University of Illinois, and director of the Department of Emerging Energy Technologies at Sandia National Laboratories. Dr. Stachel's research deals with technologies to reduce the use of fossil energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She also served as the head of the physical chemistry department at the American Chemical Society and as editor-in-chief of the scientific journal for physical chemistry.
The International Judging Committee stated in the report it submitted to the Steering Committee of the Centers of Excellence that the two proposals submitted in the field of alternative energies were of very high research quality, and represent different research directions that should be promoted. It is worth noting that the field of alternative energies is of national importance, with far-reaching consequences in the geopolitical context and in the fields of the economy and the environment.
The announcement of the group winning the center of excellence in the field of alternative energies completes the first phase of the research centers of excellence project for the establishment of the first four centers. The proposals submitted for the establishment of the centers all reflected the strength of Israeli research and its central position in the world in these fields."
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Gali, shame on the cynicism. It doesn't help anyone.
You are desperate and want to run away from here, there is not much that can be said to change your mind.
The budgeting of the universities in the last 20 years, within the framework of the research model of VT, has always depended, to one degree or another, on the amount of publications issued by each department. This is not something new. What has changed is that today, instead of about NIS 300 million a year depending on the quantity and quality of publications (about 5% of the higher education budget), about NIS 700 million a year depends on the quantity and quality of publications (about 10% of the higher education budget).
Do you think it would be better to have a model where the universities submit an expense report to the OT, and the OT will simply transfer the money to them? I suggest you check what percentage of the Hebrew University's budget goes to budget pensions (hint - more than 25%). This is what happens when universities are allowed to run an open expense account.
from whom
"In the next few years" is when I will have grandchildren.
I actually heard from a loyal institution at the Technion that the budgeting of university departments will now depend on the number of publications and their quality (that is, the number of citations). A department whose faculty members do not produce enough publications and enough quality publications simply will not receive enough budget from the MLA. It's a genius idea. If I were the chairman of the MLA tomorrow, I would implement it. Sorry, I would have applied it yesterday!!
If a dwarf came and told me I have three wishes, which wish do you want? I would answer: get on a plane and just run away from here, far, far and far...
Gali, first of all, I wasn't hurt. I quite agree with you.
Something important to know is that the budgeting of the universities in the coming years largely depends on their ability to absorb new faculty. The issue of post docs abroad is definitely something that the MLA will have to consider, but what is certain is that the universities will have to compete more and more for potential researchers, because there will be standards. It has a budget.
The same goes for the colleges, which do not currently receive research budgets, but this is also an issue that is on the agenda.
Have a Sabbath peace!
Sorry Jesus...
I did not mean to hurt you.
Unfortunately, I know the academy too closely. And the brain drain from the country is also largely Israel's fault. When someone finishes his PhD, his supervisor tells him: You will not be able to find a job in Israel if you do not go to a post-doctorate abroad. They explicitly explain to you that you have no chance of finding any job in academia in Israel if you do not do a post abroad. They clearly explained it to me and explain it to everyone. Then you go abroad. and is doing one post-doctorate there. and discovers that it is impossible to return to Israel due to the lack of standards. So you move on to the next postdoc... and in the meantime you've rented a house and gotten used to the area. Then a department from some university in the US comes and offers you an offer. And you think: no university or college here in Israel offers me anything, so you go for the US offer.
Therefore, the MLA's role is to offer a tempting offer to those who are debating whether to accept the tempting offer from Harvard or another university in the USA. The MLA does not need to worry about work for Dr. and Prof. who already have jobs here. She should take care of those who are tempted by jobs there.
And the 1600 faculty members you are talking about who will be admitted, are those who did a post-doctorate abroad, because otherwise you cannot be admitted as a faculty member. And I described to you what happens when you go to do a post-doctorate abroad.
Gali, I do not come from the academy. I wrote that this is the hidden assumption, apparently, behind the attempt to return researchers from abroad and not to concentrate on those who are in Israel.
Again, I'm not claiming this to be true. I am short of stating whether researchers in Israel are less good than those abroad.
By the way, note that it says "will be accepted in the first year". Beyond the fact that no one said that those who are now members of the center will necessarily stay there during the next 5 years (which are only the first phase of the program), it can be assumed that in the coming years more and more new researchers will be taken in, which is expected to reduce the 90:10 ratio.
The problem of the academy in recent years has been the reduction of academic staff. According to the MLA's multi-year plan, approximately 1600 new senior academic faculty members, who are not necessarily from abroad, are to be recruited during the period (approximately 800 veteran faculty members are expected to retire during the period). The centers of excellence are only part of the plan, and are focused on restoring minds.
These centers of excellence actually encourage brain drain instead of solving it.
Pay attention to the title of the article: the center of excellence is headed by a professor from the Technion and the subtitle is:
"The group includes 27 veteran researchers from the Technion, the Weizmann Institute of Science and Ben Gurion University, and in the first year it will take in three returning researchers from prominent universities in the USA."
That is, the Center of Excellence will staff over 90% researchers from Israel, who already have a job in academia in Israel, and it will take in maybe barely 5% (that is, less than that) researchers who left Israel because they could not find work here.
So tell me, why did they establish this center of excellence???
Only scientists returning from abroad should have put together this center of excellence!! And there is no shortage of them, and only then were these centers of excellence effective in solving the brain drain problem. That way it's all nonsense and the brain drain will continue as usual.
And to him above me. Looks like you don't come from the academy. To enroll in universities you need to excel in politics and less in science. You need to have connections and to know how to get along with someone who is strong in a certain field and that your field will exactly fall within the field of the department or alternatively will not threaten the research field of the head of the department or another researcher who is particularly strong in the department. Otherwise you are not accepted to the academy and then you are forced to leave abroad. Excellence in science is not always a criterion for admission to an academy in Israel. If it were a criterion for admission to the academy in Israel, we would have a lot of great scientists here - those who today are in the USA because they were not wanted here.
The hidden assumption here is, apparently, that the one who really excels and has not been accepted by the universities to this day - left abroad, and if he did not leave abroad and the universities had no interest in accepting him to this day, he was probably not outstanding enough.
I'm not saying it's true, but it seems to me to be the line of thought here.
Very beautiful and good luck to the outstanding ones. I just don't understand why it is necessary to bring in brains from abroad when there are enough of them in Israel. These are probably Israelis who moved to the other side of the lake, but this is still not a good enough reason to give up on the excess of sharp minds that are already here.