Israeli Higher Education Sees Student Growth as New Academic Year Begins
Translated & summarized from Davar by baba
Israel's 2026-2027 academic year is launching with over 350,000 students expected across 57 higher education institutions. This marks a continued growth trend from the previous year, with social sciences and engineering being the most popular bachelor's degree fields. Medicine and humanities saw the largest enrollment increases, while mathematics and computer science experienced a decline. Students are distributed across universities, colleges, and the Open University.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Over 350,000 students are expected to enroll in Israel's 57 higher education institutions for the 2026-2027 academic year.
- Social sciences and engineering are the most popular fields for bachelor's degrees, each comprising over 17% of students.
- Medicine and humanities experienced the highest enrollment growth rates, while mathematics and computer science saw a decline.
- Student numbers have increased compared to the previous academic year, תשפ"ו.
- 38.5% of students are enrolled in academic colleges, with universities and the Open University also hosting significant numbers.
The 2026-2027 academic year in Israel is commencing this week across 57 institutions of higher education, with projections indicating a continued rise in student enrollment. According to the Council for Higher Education (CHE), over 350,000 students are expected to pursue degrees this year. Specifically, approximately 268,400 students will be studying for bachelor's degrees, 68,180 for master's degrees, and 12,550 for doctoral degrees.
This represents an increase from the previous academic year, תשפ"ו, when 343,717 students were enrolled. In תשפ"ו, 262,083 students were in bachelor's programs, 68,497 in master's, 12,356 in doctoral programs, and 781 in diploma studies.
The most popular fields for bachelor's degrees in the upcoming year are social sciences, with 37,711 students (17.4% of the total), and engineering, with 37,596 students (17.3%). The CHE data also highlights significant enrollment shifts in various fields. Medicine saw the sharpest increase at 11%, followed by humanities at 10.9%, law at 8.5%, education at 7.5%, and social sciences at 3.3%.
Artificial intelligence and data science experienced a more moderate increase of 3.3%, while health professions saw a 1.4% rise. Conversely, enrollment in mathematics, statistics, and computer science declined by 7.4% in תשפ"ו compared to תשפ"ה, totaling 20,571 students, excluding the Open University. The overall number of students in תשפ"ו was 3.4% higher than in תשפ"ה.
Student distribution across institutions shows that 38.5% are enrolled in academic colleges, 35% in universities, 17.1% in the Open University, and 9.4% in teacher training colleges.
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