Comparing the Arab and Jewish communities in Israel

Arab students accounted for 16.1% of all students in bachelor degree programs last year, up from 10.2% in 2010, the survey found. In master’s programs, the percentage more than doubled to 13% from 6.2% while in doctoral program the figure climbed 60% to 6.3% from 3.9%.

In absolute terms, the number of Arab students climbed 78.5% in the seven years.

Still, even at the bachelor’s level, that meant that Israeli Arabs, who constitute about 21% of the total population, are still underrepresented in higher education. Israeli Arabs constitute an even higher 26% of the population in the age group at which students do undergraduate studies, making their representation especially low.

The only courses of study where Israeli Arabs are enrolled in numbers that reflect their share of the population are in teaching and related medical professions, the report said. Moreover, some sectors of the Arab population haven’t fared as well as others.

“The last few years have seen impressive advances towards integrating Arabs into higher education thanks to a holistic program and the investment of major resources,” said Yaffa Zilbershats, a Bar-Ilan University professor and a member of the council’s planning and budgeting committee.

“However, among the Bedouin population in the Negev the figures are significantly lower. A college education is the key to reducing income gaps and to creating social mobility, for employment and integration into Israeli society,” she said.

A recent article in Haaretz reported that just 850 Bedouin students were enrolled at institutes of higher education in 2016. However, the council has set a goal of increasing that number by 75% over the next five years, budgeting 110 million shekels ($32.3 million) with a special emphasis on math, sciences, engineering, architecture, medicine and para medical professions.

Israeli Arabs have long lagged behind their Jewish peers in obtaining a higher education and the result is that fewer hold jobs or the jobs they do have pay less. Fewer take the exams needed to apply to university and a smaller parentage graduate from high school compared to Jewish students.

Between 2012 and 2016, the Council for Higher Education budgeted 300 million shekels to encourage more Israeli Arabs to pursue a degree. Under Zilbershats, the council’s planning and budget committee decided to extend the program for another six years at a cost of 960 million shekels.

The program targets between 35,000 and 50,000 high school students annually, helping them to prepare for the psychometric exam they need to take for university admission and continues to provide help for them as they pursue a bachelor’s degree. The study, released on Tuesday, was conducted to measure the success of the program to date.

Among institutes of higher education, the gap between Jewish and Arab enrolment was widest at private colleges, where tuition is the highest. Only 12% of Arab students were enrolled at a private college, compared to 15% of all Jewish students.<

On the other hand, 16% of all Arab students were studying at teachers-training colleges in 2016, compared with just 10% of Jewish students. However, teacher’s pay is relatively low and there aren’t enough jobs for all the graduates. As a result, fewer Arab students are enrolling in the programs and opting for other courses of study.<

Arabs made up 20% of all humanities and education students in the 2016-17 year, compared to 12% in 2009-10. The percentage in social sciences, business and management jumped to 15% from 8% and in law to 12% from 8%.<

The University of Haifa had the largest proportion of Israeli Arab students, 41.1%, followed by 22.2% at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. Ariel, the university in the West bank settlement of the same name, had lowest proportion of Arab students at just 4.7%.<

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Only 9 Percent of Israeli Arab Men Complete Undergraduate Degrees

Low graduation rate is sharp edge of sword in educational system where Arabs lag far behind their Jewish peers

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Students begin the school year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, October 22, 2017.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi

By Sivan Klingbail and Lior Dattel, HAARETZ Dec 12, 2019

Just days after the international PISA exams showed widening gaps between Israeli Jewish and Arab high school students and the government’s survey on wages revealed a 35 percent gap between the two population groups, new research shows the Jewish-Arab gap at university has also grown sharply over the last two decades.

The study, which was done at the Herzilya Interdisciplinary Center’s Aaron Institute for Economic Policy, found that the Jewish-Arab gap in the rate of graduation from bachelor’s programs at Israeli institutes of higher education widened to 38 percent in 2017, from 23 percent in 2000. The dropout rate is especially high for Arab men, it found.

Education officials have taken pride in the increase in Israeli Arab university and college enrolments over the last decade, but the study found that schools have failed at retaining the students until they completed their degrees.

The researchers say that the programs, which have also been aimed at ultra-Orthodox Jews, are too little and come too late to be effective, and that the system should start dealing with educational issues at the kindergarten and elementary school level. The failure has major implications for Israeli society and the economy, they warn.

“In a situation where only 16 percent of Arab males seek a higher education to begin with and then only 9 percent get their BA – in comparison to half of Jewish males – we can’t be talking about reducing gaps and about equality,” said Dr. Marian Tehawkho, who edited the report.

The Central Bureau of Statistics reported this week that in 2018, Arab men had average gross monthly pay of 8,190 shekels ($2,360), 39.5 percent less than for Jewish men. For women, the gap was 36 percent, with Arab women’s gross pay just 5,720 a month.

The decline in Arab graduation rates come as even as Arabs account for a disproportionate share of Israel’s young – overall Arabs make up 21 percent of Israel’s population but for ages 15-24 they comprise 30 percent. Even if one doesn’t count Haredim among Israel’s Jewish population – which makes sense, since ultra-Orthodox Jews generally shun getting a higher education – than the Arab share of the population is even greater.

Israeli Arab high school graduates are far less likely to complete the bagrut (matriculation) exam – 47 percent versus 70 percent among Israeli Jews – needed to apply to university. Those who do also tend to score less well on the psychometric exam, which most institutes of higher education demand, thereby preventing them from being accepted to the most preferred fields of study. Most graduates of Arab high schools, where the curriculum is taught in Arabic, haven’t acquired sufficient Hebrew fluency to pursue college-level studies.

“The education system acts as if no one cares. If any of the decision makers acted as if it really mattered and set goals that would really advance Arab society, everything would look different. But apparently it’s not important enough,” said Tehawkho.

She said the latest PISA exams – which are administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and showed that Arab students scored 22-28 percent lower than their Jewish peers – give little cause for optimism about the future.<

“Arab performance declined and the gap with Jews widened. No Arab student excelled in the exam. How is it possible that Arab students, who make up a quarter of the Israeli educational system, had not a single top performer? The figures show there is a serious problem in Israel’s schools,” she said. “If policy makers continue to put their heads in the sand and shun responsibility, we’ll find ourselves in a terrible situation that will impact every aspect of the economy and standard of living of all of Israel’s citizens.”

The performance gap in Israeli school begins at a young age, among other reasons because Arab schools get less funding than other streams. They suffer a huge shortage of quality teachers and a lack of equipment and facilities. The Education Ministry is aware of the problem, which is evidenced not only in the PISA exam but in the locally administered Meitzav exam of elementary school students.

The Education Ministry has sought to address the problem but the budgets dedicated to it have not been enough to effect a change, nor have they been directed at the most critical age groups – kindergartners and high school students. Thus, for example, the average Arab high school spends 25,500 shekels annually per student, 40 percent less than the average for state religious schools and 20 percent less than for non-religious schools.