University heads float staggered start to academic year as IDF requests further delay
After months of delays, academic year set to begin on December 31; compromise solution proposed, with later date for returning reservists and intensive studies to make up material
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
After military officials reportedly requested that Israel’s universities further delay the opening of the academic year until mid-January, a potential compromise solution proposed by the Association of University Heads on Wednesday would see a staggered return to studies.
According to Haaretz, the Israel Defense Forces recently made the request despite opposition from the universities, and the matter was discussed during a Tuesday meeting of the Knesset Education Committee.
However, the latest compromise proposal by the Association of University Heads would keep the current December 31 opening in place, but implement a second start date three weeks later for returning reserve soldiers.
Reservists would then have an accelerated schedule for their first week in order to cover the material they missed, before continuing with the academic year on a regular schedule.
Originally set to have begun on October 15, the academic year has been delayed several times due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, and is currently set to begin for most of Israel’s universities on December 31.
Meanwhile, there has been no decision to officially delay the start of the academic year again, and an announcement on whether or not to do so is expected in the next few days, the Association of University Heads told the Times of Israel Wednesday.
The IDF’s request was to protect the interests of the university students who are currently serving in reserve duty and will be unable to attend classes.
“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.
Any further delay could potentially cancel the entire year, he said, and noted that the universities have drawn up guidelines on how to ensure that reserve student-soldiers who aren’t able to attend the beginning of classes will still be able to complete their studies.
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. This figure is around 30% of all university 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 announced aid packages designed to help reserve soldiers return to their university studies, even if they are back after the semester begins. The packages differ from university to university but generally include financial grants, individual tutor options, more flexible testing periods, and recorded classes.
“We would like to repeat once again our commitment to the entire student community, and to the men and women of the faculty who have been recruited, to do everything we can so that no one is left behind,” the Association of University Heads said last week in a statement announcing the December 31 start date.
Several of the universities announced last week that considering the late start, the academic year will be condensed into two shorter semesters and may encroach upon the summer break.
The IDF request to delay the 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 had decided to begin its school year on January 7, but according to Haaretz is reportedly considering delaying the move another week.
Some of Israel’s smaller academic colleges and international schools have already begun their semesters. This is 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.
