Ayalon attacks Shochat Report on higher education

By EHUD ZION WALDOKS
MK Ami Ayalon (Labor) told Tel Aviv University students on Thursday that the problem with the Shochat Report was that it relied on raising tuition as the basis for implementing reforms. The Shochat committee on higher education last year formed a comprehensive plan to reform the face of Israeli academia, which also included a raise in tuition. This raise, however, was suggested to be given by the state as a long-term loan that could be paid back over ten years. "I can live with it if the topic of tuition is pushed off for three years," he said. "I have no doubt that the moment the report is put on the government's table, there will be a coalition crisis," Ayalon said. Ayalon also said the government should spend more of its budget on education. In every other Western country, education spending is around ten percent of the budget, while here it is around five percent, he said.