Nobel Prize Laureate (chemistry) Aaron Ciechanover on Monday told an emergency conference for higher education that if the current realities continue in Israel, down the road, there will not be doctors in Israel and only the very wealthy will be able to attend medical school. The Technion scientist warns that the nation’s institutions of higher learning are on the verge of collapse.

Speaking to the Tel Aviv audience, Prof. Shlomo Grossman, who heads the budgeting and planning of the ‘Malag’ association responsible for the approval of the universities, warned the institutions of higher learning around the country will not open their doors in the fall unless the government implements the recommendations of the Shochat Report.

The members of the Shochat Commission warned that the government must infuse NIS 1.8 billion into the nation’s higher education system or risk a total collapse of the entire system.  Prof. Menachem Ya’ari, who stands at the helm of the National Academy of Scientists, warns the system is already crumbling.

Responding to the ominous statements heard at the conference, treasury officials stated they are accustomed to holding formal meetings that address facts, and they do not respond to dictates or preconditions when it comes to distribution of the public funds — but decisions are made after examining the needs of the nation.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)