Research

Percentage of Students Passing Matriculation Exams, by Locality 2009-2010

Only 28.8% of Israelis who were 17 years old in 2002 enrolled in universities or academic colleges by 2010

Only 28.8% of Israelis who were 17 years old in 2002 (the age of high school seniors) enrolled in Israeli universities or academic colleges by 2010. The figure breaks down to 33.5% among Jews and only 17.6% among Arabs. This is the main finding of this year’s Adva Center report Percentage of Students Passing Matriculation Exams, by Locality, by Etty Konor Attias and Ludmila Garmash.

These figures gain special significance in view of the fact that the industrial sectors leading economic growth, such as the hi-tech industries, are amongst the major employers of persons with academic degrees. Furthermore, these industries are the ones that pay the highest wages; thus, persons with less education face a future with a lower standard of living. A low percentage of persons with higher education does not augur well for the Israeli economy.

Two weeks ago the Ministry of Education published the country-wide results of the 2011 matriculation exams, but the only available figures for localities are still those of 2010 – and these form the basis of this year’s Adva Center report.

Following are some of the other findings:

  1. Throughout the decade of 2001-2010, the Israeli education system failed to break the 50% barrier regarding the percentage of the age cohort successfully passing the matriculation exams.
  1. The highest matriculation achievements in 2010 – 71.8% of the age cohort succeeding in the exams — were registered in high-income localities; the lowest — 28.2% — in Bedouin towns in the Negev. The figure for Jewish development towns was 50.2% and that for Arab communities – 38.9%.
  1. The higher the average income in a locality, the higher the matriculation rate.

For the full report, in Hebrew only Click Here.