A budget cut for all universities in the amount of 300 million shekels * The yeshiva budget is not cut and there is no quota for students * Will we go back to the days when Israel's biggest export was oranges?
For the first time, this year saw a decrease in the number of students starting their studies at the Technion. Classes start next week, and the number of new students decreased by 1,616 - 200 students compared to 1,840 last year. This, despite the increase in the number of candidates - 4,988 candidates compared to 4,786 last year.
The decrease stems from the decision of the Planning and Budgeting Committee in the Council for Higher Education, according to which the Council will only budget for 12,825 students. Any student above this number does not receive government support and is subsidized by the Technion, which cannot afford it.
to declare the Technion as a Yeshiva
Sources with whom I spoke and who also expressed outrage at the decision, said that it might be worthwhile to declare the Technion as a yeshiva and then there would be no problem with quotas.
The president of the Technion, Professor Yitzhak Apluig, said that this is an absurd and destructive policy for the future of the country. "Demand for the Technion increased significantly this year, in all faculties, and due to an arbitrary administrative decision we are forced to return the faces of 200 talented young people. This is a serious injury to our young people and to the country, which is clear to everyone that its economic future lies in the training of talented engineers and scientists, who will deal with issues that are at the forefront of technology. The decision of the planning and budgeting committee turns into a correct and long-standing policy of that committee, which called on the Technion to increase as much as possible the number of students studying there."
The Technion decided to continue subsidizing some of the students, so as not to reduce their numbers even more drastically. The senior deputy to the president of the Technion, Professor Aviv Rosen, said that this is actually the beginning of a gradual process of cutting the number of students and harming the technological future of the State of Israel.
This year 13,516 students will study at the Technion. Despite the crisis in the high-tech sector, there was an increase in demand for electrical engineering and computer science faculties, which were forced to raise their admission threshold as a result. A growing demand was also seen for biotechnology studies and master's degree studies. Dean of Certified Studies, Professor Freddy Brookstein, said that this is due to the crisis in hi-tech, which is returning many good ones to the Technion, for further studies.
In view of the increase in the level of candidates for qualified studies, the admission threshold has increased. However, due to the limitations, only 9 percent more were admitted this year than in 2001. The threshold for admission to master's studies in the Faculty of Computer Science, for example, was greatly increased, and only candidates at the President's Honors level were admitted to this faculty. The chairman of the Technion Alumni Association, president of the "Red" group of companies, Yehuda Zisafel, said that the cut in the number of students at the Technion indicates a short-sightedness and short-term vision of the decision makers in the country. The father of Israeli hi-tech and winner of the Israel Prize, Uziah Galil, who is honorary chairman of the Technion's board of directors, said that he was amazed at the decision of the Higher Education Council to cut the number of students at the Technion. "What does the Planning and Budgeting Committee want to do," he asked, "to return the country to the days of exporting oranges?"
VT's response - preference for colleges because of a NIS 300 million cut
Prof. Nehemiah Lev-Zion, Chairman of the Committee for Planning and Budgeting of the Council for Higher Education, said in response that "the situation of the State of Israel is not easy. They cut 300 million shekels from our higher education budget. Most of the cuts fell on the universities and the Technion was also cut. This is the state of Israel. We are constantly fighting with the Treasury to expand accessibility - both for colleges and universities. Even under the current conditions, the situation of universities is still easier than other sectors. I admit that the Technion has special problems, some of which it needs to solve in order to avoid deficits. One of the reasons the president of the Technion attacks us is that he doesn't manage his budget."
One response
Not bad, anyway there is a surplus of engineers in the market...not enough engineers, not engineers