ISRAEL

ISRAEL: Plan to raise state funding for higher education
The Council for Higher Education last week presented a plan designed to reform Israeli higher education, write Lior Dattel and Moti Bassok for Haaretz. It calls for an additional NIS7.5 billion (US$2 billion) in state spending on higher education over the next six years, of which NIS1.35 billion will be added to the two-year state budget for 2011 and 2012.The plan, which has been in the works for the past year, is designed to address a decline in the level of research and teaching at Israel's universities and their financial problems. It is also meant to deal with other problems, such as the brain drain of highly skilled researchers to universities overseas and accessibility to higher education for ultra-Orthodox Jews, Israeli Arabs and residents of outlying parts of the country.
Full report on the Haaretz site