The ‘Lost Decade’ Highlighted at Technion Board of Governors

Technion President at the opening session of the Board of Governors for 2016:

“Only in 2020 will the Technion recover from the lost decade of Israeli academia”

Left to right: Prof. Moussa Youdim, Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, Prof. John Finberg and Fruma Youdim

Left to right: Prof. Moussa Youdim, Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, Prof. John Finberg and Fruma Youdim

“Only in 2020 will the Technion recover from the lost decade of Israeli academia” This remark was made by Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie at the opening session of the Technion Board of Governors for 2016.  During the so-called lost decade of Israeli academia, the government made sharp cuts in university budgets, a move that harmed research and led to a sharp decline in the number of faculty members. “In the past four decades, Israel’s population increased by 142%, the GDP increased by 98%, the number of students attending universities shot up by 240%, and only the number of faculty members dropped by around 20%.  At the Technion, the number of faculty members dropped from 642 in 2000 to 527 in 2010.”

Prof. Lavie warned that without academic research, “Israel will lose its position at the forefront of technology and scientific research, so the main task facing the Technion in the coming years is the recruitment of new faculty members. In the past year, 32 new faculty members have been recruited and in the past five years – 137 new faculty members, constituting 25% of Technion faculty. By 2020, young faculty members – those who have been at the Technion for ten years or less – will constitute 50 percent of the faculty. In other words, it will be a new Technion. In this, we must continue to increase the number of women and members of minority groups within Technion faculty.”

Prof. Lavie added that despite the effects of the lost decade, the Technion recorded an impressive leap in the quantity of scientific publications: from 1,600 in 2000 to 2,900 in 2015.

Commenting on future trends, Prof. Lavie noted that the fourth industrial revolution and the changes it will bring about in daily life and the labor market will demand special preparation in the fields of education and research.

“According to various estimates, about half of the students finishing first grade this year will have professions that today do not exist, and universities must be ready for that.”

This year, a record number of over 200 representatives from around the world are attending the meeting of the Board of Governors; participating  in events that will continue until Wednesday. The Chairman of the Board of Governors, Lawrence (Larry) Jackier, noted that the slogan of the Board of Governors this year is Technion Unlimited: both geographically – the Technion as a global university – and demographically, namely the diversity of students at the Technion.