Last update - 00:00 20/12/2007
Striking university lecturers, treasury deadlocked over wage dispute
By Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondent
Striking senior faculty members and treasury officials are no closer to reaching a solution to their dispute. University heads are warning that the entire school year may now be lost.
The strike, which has entered its ninth week, is the longest university strike in over a decade; 1994 saw a 10-week-long strike.
Students fear they may not be able to complete their degree this year. "People don't know what will happen. This is the last semester before graduation, and people were supposed to get on with their lives. Today they don't know where they stand. Students who are due to be drafted don't know how they'll complete their studies, if the semester continues through the summer vacation," said Uri Delek, the Technion's student union chairman.
Student representatives recently met with respective university management but got only partial answers. "At the moment, it's an abstract question. No plans can be made, the new academic calendar cannot be planned, because nobody knows how and when the strike will end," a senior university official said.
"Even if studies resume tomorrow morning, we need 31 weeks to complete the year. Therefore, the studies will continue into August instead of ending in June," said Hebrew University Rector Haim Rabinowitch.
He said many academics had commitments to summer conferences, workshops and research terms overseas. Canceling them could damage Israel's international academic ties, he said.
Dekel said this would be the third shortened summer vacation for University of Haifa and Technion - Israel Institute of Technology students, who had to study and write their exams during the summer two years ago because of the Second Lebanon War and another strike. Slashing the summer vacation creates a huge problem for many students, who have to work during the summer to finance their tuition.
The universities' administrations have discussed a number of possibilities regarding the rest of the academic year.
According to one speculation, the strike will end in the next few days, the semester's end will be put off and the students will study during the semester break. The opening of the second semester will be postponed accordingly. Rabinowitch says, "Two consecutive semesters are very problematic and passing some of the courses is conditional upon graduating to the other courses. This means the students must pass exams between the semesters."
Several universities have discussed the possibility of the strike continuing for most of the semester. In this case, the first semester will be held during the second semester and the second will take place in the summer. This, too, is considered problematic because it does not leave sufficient time for exams.
Related articles: