CBS: Israel lags behind other OECD countries in number of awarded PhDs

Number of higher education graduates in Israel tripled since 1995; in 2012, 68.2% received BA's degree, 28% awarded MA, 2.3% PhD.

By DANIELLE ZIRI
Bar Ilan University Ceremony (photo credit: Yoni Reif)
Bar Ilan University Ceremony
(photo credit: Yoni Reif)
Israel lags behind other OECD countries in the number of doctorates awarded in 2011, according to a report released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics last week.
According to the report, which showcased data on recipients of academic degrees in Israel, 1.4 percent of Israelis received a PhD in 2011, compared to 1.6% in the rest of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.
The figures revealed, however, that in the 2011-2012 academic year, the rate for bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Israel was 40%, compared to 39% for the other OECD members.
At the end of the 2011-2012 academic year, the number of higher education graduates in Israel had tripled since 1995, with some 69,500 people, out of whom 39,100 received degrees from universities, including the Open University, and 30,400 graduated from colleges, including educational colleges.
Among all those that received a degree in 2012, 68.2% received a bachelor’s degree, 28% received a master’s degree and 2.3% received a PhD. The majority of graduates in all three levels were women.
In addition, Arab students constituted some 9.7% of BA graduates, 8% of MA recipients and 3.5% of those awarded PhDs.
The Central Bureau of Statistics’s figures showed that among the graduates, the most popular areas of study were social sciences and the humanities, business management, natural sciences and mathematics.
Moreover, while university graduates tend to continue their studies at a higher rate than college graduates in Israel, college graduates show higher employment rates than their university counterparts.