will come to Israel as part of a program of the US-Israel Education Fund for post-doctoral researchers thanks to special support from the Israel Defense Forces, the budget of the program is $400,000 per year
The US-Israel Education Foundation, which administers the Fulbright program for student and lecturer exchanges in Israel, is launching this year a unique scholarship program for American post-doctoral researchers. The purpose of the new program is to encourage outstanding young scientists from the US to integrate into research conducted at higher education institutions in Israel. The initiation of the program was made possible thanks to special budgetary support from the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education in Israel.
As part of the new program, 10 American post-doctoral fellows are expected to arrive in Israel every year who will assist in promoting research in Israel in various fields. The researchers will benefit from a Fulbright scholarship in addition to the research scholarships that will be awarded by the host universities.
Twenty-one candidates competed for the 10 scholarships offered by the Education Fund for the period 2010/2011 - 2011/2012. The ten scholarships chosen from among the applicants will help promote research in chemistry, physics, biology and medicine, as well as in business administration and science teaching. The new program fellows come to Israel from leading American universities, such as Harvard, Carnegie Mellon and Stanford, as well as from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The researchers will be accepted in Israel at the Weizmann Institute, the Technion, the Hebrew University, the Tel Aviv University and the University of Haifa.
Dr. Neil Sherman, CEO of the USA-Israel Education Foundation, said "The heads of the academic system routinely point to the minority of young American researchers who come to universities in Israel as post-doctoral fellows, compared to the constant flow of young researchers going to the US, as a problem which burdens academic research in Israel. This assertion is clearly expressed in the report of the Shohat Committee, the report of the Committee for Examining the Higher Education System in Israel. Adding Fulbright scholarships to the scholarships offered by the host universities themselves is intended to contribute to solving this problem by making further education in Israel more attractive for American postdoctoral researchers."
The Chairman of the Committee for Planning and Budgeting, Prof. Manuel Trachtenberg stated, "The higher education system strives to attract outstanding young scientists from the USA to Israel. The unique program of the US-Israel Education Foundation is one of the important means of bringing American post-doctoral researchers to the research institutes of our universities."
About the Fulbright program and the USA-Israel Education Foundation
The Fulbright program for the exchange of lecturers and students was the first government program that was activated to promote the scientific ties between Israel and the USA. In 1956, the two governments signed a treaty to establish the Fulbright Authority for Israel - the US-Israel Education Fund. The main goal of the Fulbright program is to strengthen the foundations of peace by strengthening the understanding between the American people and the peoples of partner countries around the world.
Since its establishment, the USA-Israel Education Fund has awarded approximately 1500 scholarships to Israelis going to study and further training in the USA and approximately 1150 scholarships to American lecturers and students who have come to Israel. Recently, the value of the scholarships awarded annually to Israelis and Americans amounts to approximately $1.2 million per year.
The Fulbright program left its mark on academic research in Israel and in other key areas. Graduates of the program include:
- Professor Aharon Barak, former president of the Supreme Court
- Professor Aharon Chachanover, Technion, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- Professor Aharon Ben-Zev, President, University of Haifa and Chairman, and the Committee of University Heads (WRA)
- MK Uzi Landau, Minister of National Infrastructures
- Professor Uzi Arad, Chief of Staff for National Security
- Professor Gabriela Shalu, Israel's ambassador to the UN
- MK Yuli Tamir, former Minister of Education
- Professor Daniel Friedman, former Minister of Justice
- Professor Yair Orgler, former chairman of the Stock Exchange
- Mr. A.B. Yehoshua, writer and playwright
One response
Increase the budget by at least 10 times, for pistachios, they budget more money.