Higher Education in Israel in 2022: Peripheral Areas and the Impact of COVID-19

Abstract

This paper explores the continued growth in higher education in Israel since COVID-19 and specifically in its peripheral areas, using quantitative and qualitative measures. Access to higher education increased during the pandemic in 2020–2022, with more students from all parts of Israel, including its social and geographic periphery, beginning their studies during those years. Nevertheless, the gap between students from higher and lower-income localities persisted. The quantitative gap between the groups was also maintained when analyzing the number of people who pursued higher education within eight years of high school graduation. Qualitative gaps reflected by the prestige of the fields in higher education that students chose to study were maintained, and sometimes even grew. Students from higher-income localities took better advantage of opportunities for education than students from lower-income localities, thus preserving the gaps in earning power and limiting social mobility. Choosing professions that earn lower salaries is more common in the peripheral areas, due to the smaller selection of jobs there. Overeducation is also more common in the peripheral areas, where people often settle for jobs that do not suit their education to avoid moving away. This results in lower salaries, dissatisfaction with their jobs, and instability in workplaces.