Israeli Arabs in Higher Education Grows

The percentage of Israeli Arabs who attend higher education institutions has risen by 7 points between 1991 and 2002, yet remains significantly lower than that of their Jewish counterparts.

The last annual report of the Council for Higher Education in Israel found that some 19 percent of the graduates of Arab high schools went on to attend higher education institutions in 2002, compared to 11 percent in 1991.

In general, more than 40 percent of all Israeli high school graduates attend college or university.

While the rate of Israeli Arab students at Israeli colleges nearly doubled between 1991 and 2001, the rate of those attending universities rose by only two percentage points, to 9 percent. Some 63 percent of Israeli Arabs attending institutes of higher education are studying in colleges, which are considered less prestigious than universities.

There were some 6,500 Arab undergraduates at universities in 2002 and 6,827 in teacher training colleges in 2002, totaling about 11 percent of all Israeli undergraduates.