The academic year 2020/21 has been characterized by a significant and unusual increase in the number of students in institutions of higher education.

• The number of new undergraduate students increased by 16% - from 54,653 to 63,304, an increase of 8,650 students.
• The number of new graduate students increased by 17% - from 26,194 to 30,632, an increase of 4,450 students.
• The total increase in the system has been 8%, from 311,720 students in 2019/20 to 335,360 in 2020/21.

These extraordinary increases occurred despite Corona and perhaps even thanks to it. That is, it is assumed that part of the increase is due to potential students staying in Israel. At the same time, it created challenging school year, most of which took place by distance learning. The academic system deserves a vote of confidence and appreciation for having met this substantial challenge with commendable success and made it possible to hold the 5701 school year and graduation with great success!

More than a third of the increase in the number of new undergraduate students in institutions budgeted by the Planning and Budgeting Committee has focused on engineering or mathematics and computer science studies - areas required in the employment market. 27% concentrated in the social sciences, 11% - in the biological sciences and agriculture and 10% - in business administration.

The increase in the number of new undergraduate students was particularly focussed at the ages of 21-24, so that in 2020/21 there was an increase of 6,180 students (an increase of 25%) in these ages compared with the previous year.

A large increase in the number of new students was recorded in the academic colleges (17% in the first degree and 25% in the second degree), and especially in the non-budgeted colleges (20% in the first degree and 29% in the second degree). Academic colleges are of great importance in making higher education accessible, and it is also reflected in the fact that in budgeted colleges 53% of undergraduate students and 48% of graduate students are first generation higher education students. In non-budgeted academic colleges the percentages are even higher (57% and 58%, respectively).

General

In the 2020/21 school year, there was a significant increase in the number of students in higher education institutions in Israel - the number of all students increased by about 24,000 students - from 311,720 in 2019/20 to 335,360 in 2020/21, an increase of almost 8% per year. A significant part of this increase can be attributed to the effects of the global corona pandemic, which on the one hand left the young age group within the borders of Israel, and on the other hand, opened up online learning channels. We are witnessing a particularly significant increase in the number of new undergraduate students[1] and in the number of new students who have started a master’s degree. In this announcement, we will focus on the characteristics of the new students who were added to the higher education system in 2020/21.

The number of new undergraduate students increased in 2020/21 from 55,000 to more than 63,000 - an unprecedented increase of 15.8%, compared with the increase of 5.3% in 2019/20 and compared with the general stabilization in their number in recent years. The number of new graduate students also increased significantly in 2020/21 by about 4,400 students compared to 2019/20, an increase of about 17% per year, which is unusual and irregular compared to recent years.

Figure 1 - New undergraduate* and graduate students, absolute numbers

* Includes undergraduate studies at the Academic Colleges of Education.

Type of institutions of study

The increase in the number of new students led to an 8% increase in the total number of students in 2020/21 compared with 2019/20. A strong increase in the number of new students was recorded in academic colleges (17% in the first degree and 25% in the second degree), and especially in non-budgeted colleges - 20% in the first degree and 29% in the second degree).

For undergraduate degrees, there were increases in the number of students in all types of institutions, except for a decrease of 3% in the academic colleges of education. The Open University and budgeted academic colleges had similar increases in both undergraduate degrees (8.4% and 7.5%, respectively) and graduate degrees (14.8% and 15.5%, respectively).

Table A - Students in Institutions of Higher Education, by Type of Institution and Degree, Absolute Numbers, 2019/20 and  2020/21

Type of institution/	1st	Degree	2nd	Degree	3rd	Degree	Total
degree and year of study	2019/20	2020/21	2019/20	2020/21	2019/20	2020/21	2019/20	2020/21
Universities[1]	76,278	81,630	38,603	39,590	11,641	11,829	126,522	133,049
The Open University of Israel[2]	42,581	46,171	2,174	2,496	-	-	44,755	48,667
Budgeted academic colleges[3]	59,147	63,585	4,931	5,693	-	-	64,078	69,278
Unbudgeted academic colleges	35,595	40,696	9,584	12,018	5	28	45,184	52,742
Academic Colleges of Education[4]	23,253	22,579	7,926	9,044	-	-	31,179	31,623
TOTAL	236,854	254,661	63,218	68,841	11,646	11,857	311,718	335,359

Religion, population group and sex

The number of new Jewish undergraduate students increased by 18%, and the number of new Arab students increased by 6%.

Overall, the growth rate of new female students was slightly higher than the percentage of new male students (16% vs. 15%, respectively). Among Arabs, the growth rate of new female students was lower than that of men and stood at about half of it (4.9% compared to 9.3%, respectively).

Among Christian Arab men and among Druze men, the increases in the number of new undergraduate students were similar to those of Jews (16.2% and 13.9%, respectively). In contrast, among Druze women there was a decrease of 2.6%.

In academic colleges of education, there was a decline among Arabs (men and women) in general and among Arabs in particular (1% and 2%, respectively).

Table B - New Undergraduate Students in Institutions of Higher Education, by Type of Institution and Population Group, Absolute Numbers, 2019/20 and 2020/21

Type of institution/	Total		Out of this:	Jews and others	Out of this:	Arabs
Population group and school year	2019/20	2020/21	2019/20	2020/21	2019/20	2020/21
Universities	20,819	24,313	17,323	20,647	3,325	3,533
Budgeted academic colleges	16,538	19,035	13,006	15,409	3, 423.	3,529
Unbudgeted academic colleges	11,403	13,713	8,594	10,496	2,554	2,928
Academic Colleges of Education	5,893	6,243	4,616	4,984	1,270	1,253
TOTAL	54,653	63,304	43,539	51,536	10,572	11,243

Age

The increase in the number of new undergraduate students was particularly high at the ages of 21-24, so that in 2020/21 there was an increase of 6,180 students (an increase of 25%) in these ages compared with the previous year. Most of the increase was among Jewish men aged 21-24, among Jewish women aged 20-23, and among Arabs aged 20-21.

Figure 2 - New Undergraduate Students, by Age and Sex, Absolute Numbers, 2019/20 and 2020/21

Field of Study

The number of new undergraduate students increased from 54,653 in 2019/20 to 63,304 in 2020/21 - an increase of 8,651 students. In total, the number of new students increased by 15.8% compared to last year. The following figure shows the fields of study in which there was a particularly high increase in the number of new undergraduate students in 2020/21 compared with 2019/20 by gender. In the biological sciences and agriculture there was an increase of 630 new students (31%), 500 of them women. In business and management sciences there was an increase of 1,802 students (26%), 1,165 of them women. In the social sciences there was a high increase of 1,852 students (17%), of whom 1,167 were women. In engineering and architecture studies, there was an increase of 1,467 new students (16%), of whom 570 were women. Significant increases can also be seen in the areas of education and training for teachers (addition of 912 students; increase of 11%), mathematics, statistics and computer science (623; 12%) and law (529; 16%).

Figure 3 - New Undergraduate Students, by Field of Study and Sex, Absolute Numbers, 2019/20 and 2020/21

Table C shows the number of new students by field of study and population group.

Among Jews and others, the highest increases were in the biological sciences and agriculture (36%) as well as business and management sciences and law (25% in both). Among the Arabs, there are significant increases in the fields of business and management sciences (28%) and the physical sciences (18%).

The only field of study in which there was a decrease in the number of new students is the general humanities (a total of 4% and among Arab students a decrease of 26%). Among Arab students, there were also declines in law studies and language, literature, and regional studies (15% and 7%, respectively).

Table C - New Undergraduate Students in Institutions of Higher Education, by Field of Study and Population Group, Absolute Numbers, 2019/20 and 2020/21

Field of Study/	Total		of whom:	Jews and others	of whom:	Arabs
Population group and school year	2019/20	2020/21	2019/20	2020/21	2019/20	2020/21
General Humanities	1,799	1,724	1,456	1,453	304	224
Languages, literatures and regional studies	667	762	490	598	168	156
Education and training for teaching	8,205	9,117	5,964	6,773	2,228	2,329
Art, arts and applied art	1,919	2,164	1,627	1,882	268	265
Social science	10,605	12,457	8,828	10,602	1,618	1,683
Business and Management Sciences	7,059	8,861	5,313	6,641	1,640	2,100
Law	3,286	3,815	2,573	3,212	698	595
Medicine	491	532	435	473	56	59
Medical auxiliary professions	3,295	3,685	2,356	2,712	923	966
Mathematics, statistics and computer science	5,366	5,989	4,626	5,219	681	705
Physical sciences	833	973	716	833	115	136
Biological sciences and agriculture	2,031	2,661	1,648	2,242	380	412
Engineering and architecture	9,097	10,564	7,507	8,896	1,493	1,613
TOTAL	54,653	63,304	43,539	51,536	10,572	11,243

 

Intergenerational Mobility (First Generation of Higher Education)

The higher education system has undergone a significant revolution in recent decades: expanding access to higher education, opening academic colleges and spreading them geographically from north to south, opening fields of study in areas far from the center. All of these together have made the higher education system accessible to populations that have not reached the gates of its institutions in the past. We usually examine the participation rates of different populations in the higher education system - the Arab sector, the ultra-Orthodox sector, women, populations from the social and geographical periphery. There have been significant improvements in all of them in terms of participation rates in academia. It is clear that the work has not yet been finished, but there is no doubt that the system now reaches the strata of the population that it did not reach in the past.

To examine the subject from another important point of view, we saw fit to examine the proportion of students who are first generation studentsin higher education among undergraduate students.

More than half of the undergraduate students (53%) who studied at the budgeted colleges in 2020/21 were first-generation studentsin higher education, that is, none of the parents of the students had an academic degree. In the master's degree, their share was 48%. This picture reflects one of the impressive achievements of the higher education system and its contribution to expanding the accessibility of academic studies especially among underprivileged populations.

In the unbudgeted colleges, the proportion of students who were first-generation students in higher education was even higher, both in the first degree and in the second degree - about 57%. In universities, their share was lower, standing at 32% in the first degree and 37% in the second degree.

Figure 4 - Students who are first generation students of higher education, by degree and type of institution, 2020/21

 

Definitions and explanations

The population of the announcement includes students in institutions of higher education in Israel, who studied in the academic year 2020/21 towards an academic degree (bachelor's degree, master's degree, doctoral degree) or an academic certificate. This announcement includes data on students at the Open University.

Academic degree: A degree recognized by the Council for Higher Education awarded by an institution of higher education. There are three types of degrees: a bachelor's degree is given in studies designed to develop basic academic skills; A master’s degree is given in studies designed to develop advanced academic skills; A third degree is given in studies that are mainly research.

Academic certificate recipients are among the recipients of academic degrees.

Recipients of Doctoral Degrees in Medicine (M.D.) And in dentistry (D.M.D.) are included among the recipients of a master's degree.

Academic certificate: A certificate for which the study is conditional upon completion of undergraduate studies, such as a teaching certificate, a certificate in translation, a certificate in museology, a certificate in librarianship.

New undergraduate student: A student who is studying for the first time in the higher education system and who has not appeared in the administrative information from previous years.

New graduate student: A student who is studying for a master's degree for the first time in the higher education system and who has not appeared in the administrative information from previous years as someone who studied for a master's degree.

Field of study is the field to which the student's first subject of study is associated.

The vast majority of students in academic colleges of education have studied the field of education and training for teaching. For the first degree only this field is studied and for the second degree art therapy is also studied, a subject which belongs to the field of medical auxiliary professions.

The subjects taught are grouped according to the scientific field to which they belong. Those who studied in two subjects are classified according to the field of study that appears first in the institution's file. The scientific fields were presented at the level of detail of 13 fields, as follows: General Humanities; Languages, literatures and regional studies; Education and training for teaching; Art, arts and applied arts; Social Sciences; Business and management sciences; laws; medicine; Medical auxiliary professions; Mathematics, statistics and computer science; physical sciences; Biological sciences and agriculture; Engineering and Architecture.

Population and religion group: The population of "Jews and others" includes: Jews, non-Arab Christians and those without a religious classification; The Arab population includes: Muslims, Arab-Christians and Druze.

 

[1] The data from the universities do not include postgraduate students in Ariel: 317 in 2019/20 and 340 in 2020/21.

[2] Open University data do not include students doing thesis by writing. In the first degree, their number was 3,283 in 2019/20 and 3,203 in 2020/21, and in the second degree - 190 in 2019/20 and 209 in 2020/21.

[3] Data from the budgeted academic colleges do not include 12 students who studied in the postgraduate department. The data from the academic colleges include the data from Ohalo College, which merged into Tel Hai College in 2020/21, and numbered 608 undergraduate students and 123 graduate students.

[4] The data from the Academic Colleges of Education do not include 3,273 undergraduate students at the Academic Colleges of Education in 2019/20 and 3,115 in 2020/21. In 2020/21, Ohalo College was merged with Tel-Hai College, and therefore in 2020/21, data from the Academic Colleges of Education do not include students at Ohalo College.

 

[1] Those who first studied at an institution of higher education in Israel (excluding the Open University).