Classes are expected to begin on Sunday at colleges and universities across Israel with close to 280,000 students, a 3 percent increase over 2008-2009, according to a report from the Council for Higher Education. Only 37 percent of those students, however, are expected to be learning in a university setting.

A full 63 percent of bachelor degree students are registered for classes at community colleges (mikhlalot). The numbers represent the continuation of a several-year’s long trend of increases in the number of students turning to the community college for their higher education.