Students went on strike at 10 colleges and universities yesterday, saying that if tuition were not halved, as the government promised in 2001, and the Shochat Committee on higher education were not dismantled, the strike would continue for an extended period.

The Shochat Committee is discussing tuition fees, differential wages for lecturers and ways to advance academic research, among other matters. The panel, appointed in November by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson and Education Minister Yuli Tamir, is due to submit its recommendations by June.

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Students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem held a funeral for higher education yesterday, while University of Haifa students set fire to a car they found in a junkyard and brought donkeys to the campus, attaching signs to them that read: "I'm a member of the Shochat Committee." Some 125,000 students participated in the strike, according to the spokeswomen for the National Union of Israeli Students, and yesterday morning, the strikers closed the main gates at each of the 10 institutions of higher education.

The Coordinating Council of Faculty Associations expressed support for the strike and called on lecturers "not to cooperate with the Shochat Committee."

"The committee is a fig leaf for the Finance Ministry," said Council Chairman Prof. Zvi Hacohen. "Since the treasury failed to force reforms via the Economic Arrangements Law, it decided to act unilaterally and establish a committee whose conclusions were written before its first meeting."

The Histadrut labor federation also supports the struggle against the Shochat Committee. Histadrut Chairman Ofer Eini said yesterday that the committee could end up impinging on collective agreements, since it supports differential salaries.

Former finance minister Avraham Shochat (Labor), who chairs the Shochat Committee, called on students to participate in the committee's work and attempt to influence it instead of striking. Noting that the best places to influence decision-making are the subcommittees, Shochat added: "If the students really want to influence, they should take part in the joint work."

In addition to Hebrew University and the University of Haifa, other institutions on strike yesterday included Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Tel Aviv University, Kaye Academic College of Education and Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.