Int'l Students Day: Israel becomes home to 12,000 international students
The most international students are coming as part of their bachelor's degree at 2,000 students, followed by 1,800 master's degree students.
By TAMAR URIEL-BEERITel Aviv University students on campus(photo credit: TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY)
Almost 12,000 international students are currently registered to study in Israel, according to a new study published by the Council for Higher Education (CHE) in Israel, as reported by Israel21."Approximately 6,000 are short-term students coming for a semester or summer courses," according to CHE Head of International Student Affairs Marissa Gross Yarm. "We have around 5,000 studying for full degrees in Israel."The majority of foreign students came to Israel from the US, Canada, Germany, France, China, India and South Korea, according to Yarm. She also noted a rise in post-doctorate students coming from Asia, China and India in particular.Chairwoman of CHE's Planning and Budgeting Committee Professor Yaffa Zilbershats said that CHE has "committed to making Israel a 'brain gain' country for excellent students and researchers from around the world – North and South America, Europe, and Asia."The most international students are coming as part of their bachelor's degree at 2,000 students, followed by 1,800 master's degree students.The majority of international students are enrolled in either one of Israel's eight public universities, in the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) or in the Jerusalem College of Technology.CHE, to encourage students abroad to come and study in Israel, recently launched 26 new international degree programs, including STEM, innovation and entrepeneurship, and Jewish Studies.To encourage international relations with Israeli students, CHE is encouraging universities to launch courses in English so that international students and Israeli students may study alongside one another.A recent PitchBook study revealed that Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, and and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev were all ranked in the top 50 undergraduate programs globally "that produce the most venture capital-backed entrepreneurs," according to Israel21.
