All of Israel’s institutes of higher learning, particularly the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Technion, the Institute of Technology at Haifa, were reported today to be hard hit by Israel’s current economic retrenchment program, leading to abandonment of expansion plans.
Eliahu Elath, Hebrew University president, has announced that the university had decided to limit an increase in its student body to a maximum of 10 percent because of a shortage of funds and facilities. He reported that the financial pinch was putting a serious brake on the university’s development. He said also that the country’s austerity program was causing financial problems for students as well.
Technion’s president Alexander Goldberg said the school had suspended plans for a new building and other expansion moves. However, he said, the principal concern, was the problem of graduates in finding jobs. He disclosed that most of last year’s candidates had not yet found jobs and that, if this situation continued, many would probably emigrate.
In a related development, a delegation of the National Union of Students today rejected a suggestion by Premier Levi Eshkol that tuition fees be doubled from $200 to $400 annually. At a meeting with the Premier, the student leaders asked that tuition fees be linked to the cost-of-living index.
Most of a long session of the Cabinet yesterday, which lasted into the evening hours, was devoted to a discussion of the tuition fees problem. A committee appointed by the Government to study and bring in recommendations on the issue split four to four. The discussion will be resumed at the next Cabinet session.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
