ISRAEL

ISRAEL: Ministry announces sites for research centres
The sites for the first four research centres of the Israeli Centres for Research Excellence (I-CORE) programme were announced by the Education Ministry last week, part of a multi-year plan to strengthen Israel's position as a global leader in academic research and stem the brain drain of Israeli academics, writes Ben Hartman for the Jerusalem Post.Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar said the selection of the four centres was "a landmark in the process of establishing Israel as a world centre in advanced research". Sa'ar vowed that in the coming year, the ministry would launch a further 10 research excellence centres, including ones focusing on liberal arts and social sciences.
Professor Manuel Trachtenberg, chair of the budget and planning committee for the Council of Higher Education, said the centres were expected to bring back to Israel some 300 leading Israeli researchers from universities across the world.
Full report on the Jerusalem Post site