Universities still set to start December 31, but reservists to have staggered return
After months of delays, academic year to officially open next week; reserve soldiers to have ‘concentrated week’ of condensed studies when they are released
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
Israel’s major universities are set to begin the delayed academic year on December 31 as previously scheduled, the Association of University Heads announced Sunday. The Israel Defense Forces had requested a further delay last week so that students still serving in the reserves amid the war could begin the year along with the rest of their peers.
In a compromise solution, IDF reservists will begin their studies “a few weeks later” and will have a condensed week of intensive classes upon their return to get them up to speed on missed material, after which they will be integrated into regular classes, the Association of University Heads said in a statement.
The start date or dates for returning reserve soldiers is to be coordinated with the IDF, for now left unspecified. It is unclear how many student soldiers the army will release from duty in the coming weeks.
The universities and colleges are committed to doing as much as they can to ensure that “no student is left behind,” the university heads said in their statement. Exact details on implementing the multi-tiered opening and possible additional aid packages would be up to each institution, they added.
The compromise plan “takes several release dates into account. Even those who are released later on will receive additional help and support,” the university heads said in a statement to The Times of Israel.
Originally set to begin on October 15, the academic year has been delayed multiple times due to the conflict in the Gaza Strip. The current December 31 start date was previously confirmed on December 10.
The military’s request for a further delay until mid-January was discussed during a Tuesday meeting of the Knesset Education Committee.
“We have reached a point where there are two bad choices… to lose a year of study and the other, something that temporarily harms the reservists,” Prof. Arie Zaban, Bar-Ilan University president and head of the Association of University Heads, said at the Knesset committee meeting.
Last Wednesday, legislation to fully cover the costs of an academic degree for discharged combat soldiers was passed into law, amending the “From Uniform to University” bill passed by the last Knesset, which covered 75 percent of the costs of higher education tuition for discharged soldiers.
The benefit is awarded to combat soldiers, as well as a few other special categories including lone soldiers, new immigrants and minorities.
The amended legislation means that a full scholarship for the entire sum of annual tuition fees will now be provided by the government for eligible soldiers, who will be able to enjoy the benefit for up to five years after they finish their military service.
Out of the some 360,000 reservists called up by the IDF after Israel declared war on Hamas in the wake of the October 7 atrocities, an estimated 100,000 are enrolled university students — around 30% of all students. In addition, thousands of university faculty and staff have been called up. It is unclear what percentage of those numbers have remained in the reserves since the initial call-up.
All the universities have already announced aid packages designed to help reserve soldiers return to university studies, even if they return after the semester begins. The packages differ from university to university but generally include financial grants, individual tutor options, more flexible testing periods, recorded classes and other benefits.
Some universities have previously announced that considering the late start, the academic year will be condensed into two shorter semesters and may encroach into the summer break.
The staggered opening applies to Israel’s major public research universities — the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Bar-Ilan University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa, Ariel University, and the Weizmann Institute of Science.
The Technion has decided to begin its school year separately, on January 14, it announced last week.
Some of Israel’s smaller academic colleges and international schools have already begun their semesters. This was reportedly a factor in the IDF’s request to further delay the year, as reserve soldiers who were to have begun the semesters at those institutions already feel that they have been neglected, and will lose a year in their academic career.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
