Survey finds university students ready to ditch city

Most of those who plan to leave Haifa say their reason for doing so is a lack of job opportunities.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Haifa mayor Yona Yahav hurried to address students at the Technion after a survey there came up with the worrying result that some 60 percent of students are planning to leave the city after graduating, reports Yediot Haifa. Most of those who plan to leave say their reason for doing so is a lack of job opportunities in their chosen profession in Haifa. According to the report, some 64% of the students questioned said they felt they belonged in Haifa and 57% said they felt the city met their needs as students. But 60% said they would leave after completing their studies, mostly because of a lack of jobs in their fields. Other reasons stated for leaving included high air pollution, an unsatisfactory social life, and higher salaries in the center of the country. Yahav told the students the city had acquired 600 dunams of land for a planned bio-tech park and that pollution levels in Haifa were falling and would continue to fall. He said meeting the students was "the most important thing" he had done since becoming mayor four years ago, and drawing more young people to the city was at the top of his agenda.