The Knesset Committee on Education, Culture and Sport has called on universities not to implement a proposed age restriction which would prevent students under 20 years from studying medicine, saying the restriction is detrimental to Arab candidates.

In a meeting with representatives of universities Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion on Wednesday, the committee asked that universities re-think the move, which may deter Arab students from enrolling.

The age restriction would mean that the majority of Arab students, who do not serve in the Israel Defense Forces, would have to wait two years after finishing high school to begin university.

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The age requirement was to be implemented during the upcoming academic year, as reported in Haaretz in March. It would not apply to 18-year-old students who chose to study in conjunction with their obligatory military service in the IDF immediately after high school.

The committee also called on highly respected institutions the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Haifa's Technion to consider changing the criteria required for acceptance into their medicine departments. Both rely on a long series of interviews aimed at deciding if candidates are suitable to study medicine.

According to the committee, the age restriction and the interviews deterred many Arab students from applying for medicine. Rather than waiting two years after finishing high school, or undergoing the interview process, they would choose other programs or study medicine overseas, the committee said.

Israeli Arab lawmaker Ahmed Tibi (Ra'am-Ta'al) requested that the Knesset committee convene to discuss the matter with university representatives, who explained that the age restriction was imposed to prevent 'immature' students from entering the program. However, they offered no explanation as to why 18-year-old student-soldiers were accepted.

Three years ago, the Hebrew University implemented a process aimed at filtering out 'immature' students, which consists of an exam over five hours, role-play scenarios and interviews. In the past, Arab students under 20 years of age have passed the selection process. Hadash MK Hanna Swaid stressed that these students have never exhibited 'inferior' performance.

MK Tibi said the discrepancy went against the principle of equal opportunities for Israelis and Arabs in the Israeli education system. "It is generally agreed that the level of Arab doctors is high, so why change the entry requirements?" he asked. However. he said the Hebrew University's interview process favored students from Western cultures, not Eastern ones. The Hebrew University representative said this was true, and that the medical faculty was in currently reviewing the process in order to make it accessible to students from all backgrounds.

The representative for the Technion said that 54 percent of medicine students are Arabs. The institution is in Haifa, in Israel's north, where Arabs make up 50 percent of the population. He said the number of Arab students was disproportionate to the population because of the Technion's entry requirements. Those whose age prevented their acceptance into universities in other parts of Israel came to the Technion to try their luck in the interview process.