Supporting Reservists (Final Exam Exemptions and Make-Up)
The Technion is exempting students serving in the IDF reserves for significant amounts of time from taking scheduled final exams for spring and summer 2023 classes
The Technion is enabling students who served extensively in the army reserves during the current war to receive exemptions from regular and make-up final exams for classes they took in the spring and summer semesters of 2023. These exemptions, combined with other benefits the Technion has already announced on behalf of students in the reserves, will allow them to begin the new academic year as smoothly as possible. These benefits include a NIS 6,000 grant for each student serving in the reserves, as well as exemption from paying dorm rent, Emotional support and more.
Since the start of the war thousands of Technion’s students received emergency call-up notices, as did many faculty members and academic and administrative staff. Exempting reservists from the need to take exams from last year’s courses will enable them to complete their military duty and return as quickly as possible to their studies at the Technion. Due to the special nature of the studies at the Technion and the disciplines taught at the university – engineering, medicine, science, architecture, and education – a small number of make-up exams for courses defined as crucial for the students’ professional and academic training will not be exempt. Moreover, the exemption does not include the obligation to submit projects and assignments. However, it does include students who are parents and whose partner is serving in the reserves, as well as members of the “Atudaim” program who were mobilized, and students in mandatory service and in the standing army who meet the criteria mentioned above.
Make-up exams for the spring semester and final exams for the summer semester will take place at the Technion from December 17, 2023, through January 5, 2024. Since the war interrupted the original exam schedule and some students are required to complete their exams before the start of the new semester, the Technion announced a special plan for additional academic adjustments for students serving in the army reserves during the war. As a result, the remaining exam period for the last academic year will be separated from the upcoming academic year and there will be no overlapping between the two. This change, along with the exemptions for reservists, will enable all students to begin the new academic year without worrying about lingering obligations from previous years.
“At the Technion, we are very proud of our students who are serving in the reserves and pray for their safe return,” says Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan. “We understand that given the situation and the ongoing war, the students serving in the reserves are experiencing long periods of mobilization with a great deal of challenges, which makes it especially difficult to return to academic life and to exams. Therefore, already from the beginning of the war, the Technion’s management started formulating a series of adjustments to relieve some of the pressure for all students, and especially for those serving in the army during the war. The adjustments for the exams and for the beginning of the academic year will make it possible to open the winter semester at the earliest feasible date, so that we will be able to proceed with a balanced academic year as much as possible.”
Students who served in the reserves for at least 30 days between October 7, 2023, and the start of the exam period are eligible to be exempted from taking exams for the spring and summer semesters of 2023. These students can choose to receive an exemption for classes for which they were supposed to take exams between December 17, 2023, and January 5, 2024. The “exemption” mark is intended to replace the grades of make-up exams. Students who wish to do so can forego the exemption option and can take make-up exams during their scheduled “moed bet” or “miluim” times.