The Education Ministry reports that the current academic year of 5769 (2008-9) has seen the re-absorption of 104 “returning scientists” in Israel. They are engaged in research in seven universities, in disciplines such as nanotechnology, biology, chemistry, and physics, as well as education, history and law.
Only 30 academics returned to Israel in the preceding year.
The sum of 95 million shekels (roughly $24 million) has been budgeted for their return, including the establishment of labs and improving the research facilities in the universities that accepted them. The difficult process of allocating the funds to the various institutions according to various criteria has not yet been completed, however.
The Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education in the Education Ministry released the statistics. Many of the returning academics are young Ph.D.’s with 4-6 years of research experience in their fields. Others have been abroad for between 10 and 25 years, and have been granted full professor status here in Israel.
Among the returnees are top figures in their fields, who have taught in prestigious schools such as Stanford, Oxford, MIT, and NYU, as well as National Institutes of Health (U.S.), Geneva University, ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), and others.
Planning and Budgeting Committee Chairman Prof. Shlomo Grossman said, “The world financial crisis has opened a window of opportunity for Israel to bring back its ‘best minds’ who assumed key positions in universities and research institutes around the world. The return of young and experienced scientists will significantly strengthen Israel’s academia.”