Last update - 00:00 16/07/2007
Shochat: University tuition hike will help reverse brain drain
By Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondent
Former finance minister Avraham Shochat, who headed a committee on higher education reforms, said following the release of the committee's recommendations Monday that a significant increase in tuition would help reverse the 'brain drain.'
"The reforms will bring Israel's great minds home," said Shochat.
The Shochat Committee released its recommendations Monday after presenting them to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Education Minister Yuli Tamir.
The committee's primary mandate was to propose reforms for colleges and universities, which sank into a crisis after budget cuts between 2001 and 2007 of around 15 percent per student.
The cuts resulted in fewer teaching positions, poorer quality instruction causing a brain drain, deterioration of libraries and more.
Parts of the report published previously in Haaretz recommended raising university tuition by 70 percent, to NIS 14,800. Students will have the option of paying part up front, and the rest in monthly installments at low interest rates.
Shochat said at a press conference Monday that without increased fees the recommendations could not be implemented, but that they may not rise as much as suggested in the report.
"While the report does not stipulate the minimum expenditure required in order to implement the changes, I hope the recommended sum will be adopted," he said.
The report suggested tuition fees should rise to NIS 14,800 per year paid in one lump sum of NIS 5,800 at the start of the academic year, followed by monthly installments of 95 to 285 shekels per month for ten years.
Different courses of study would incur different costs, and Masters degrees would cost between NIS 15,000 to NIS 18,500 per year, with universities given unprecedented liberty to decide payment methods and schedules.
Shochat said there was a high chance the committee's recommendations would be implemented after mandatory discussions with student bodies to reach agreed conclusions, however student bodies publicly rejected the recommendations.
National Student Union spokesperson Itai Shonshein said at the Monday press conference that the reforms would lead to the privatization of higher education.
Hadash MK Dov Khenin said similar reforms have been implemented in other countries and have only succeeded in limiting higher education to the wealthy. Around 50 protestors from student organizations and Tel Aviv University demonstrated outside the press conference.
According to Shonshein there was currently no strike planned, but if the government spurned negotiations with student bodies to reach agreed conclusions, they would resort to other measures.
The committee will also recommend adding NIS 2.5 billion to the higher education budget, with NIS 1.5 billion coming from the government's budget, and the rest from increased tuition and fund-raising by the universities.
Sources close to the committee said that the key to funding the reform would be some NIS 600 million generated by the tuition rise.
Following the recent 41-day student strike, the government undertook to begin negotiations with student organizations over tuition rates. Under the agreement signed by both parties, the government is obligated to talk with the student representatives, but need not agree to their demands.