Greetings dear colleagues,

This is the last update for the 2019-2020 academic year. As usual, it includes a report on faculty members retiring this year (as well as an updated report on the new recruits), along with regular updates. This time, this letter is also being sent to our retired colleagues.

We are living in turbulent times. In certain aspects, especially in the medical and socio-economic fields, members of the Hebrew University community are taking an active part in public discourse and in formulating policy by virtue of their professional status. It is a dilemma what should be our public role, by virtue of our professional authority, in relation to the political aspect of the public storm that we are in the midst of.

1. Registration for the 2020-2021 academic year is nearing completion. The significant increase in the demand to study at the Hebrew University continues this year. We have closed registration to many departments, because we have reached the maximum quota of students we can accept for studies. As you will recall, last year we saw a surge in the number of students (without compromising on the level of our admissions thresholds), including a 16% increase in the number of first-year undergraduate students (from about 3,800 to about 4,400). This year there is a further increase (to about 4,700 students), which could have been much larger were it not for the limit that dictates the maximum number of students that we can admit.

The following table illustrates the continuing increase in the demand for undergraduate study at the Hebrew University, by comparing the data as of August 20 in each of the past few years (the percentage increase in comparison to the previous year is noted in parentheses):

New undergraduate students	2017-2018	2018-2019	2019-2020	2020-2021
Applicants  (20.8)	6,784	6,982 (3%)	7,701 (10%)	9,509 (23%)
Admitted  (20.8)	3,196	3,220 (-)	3,544 (10%)	4,029 (14%)
Students accepting offer of admission  (20.8)	2,736	2,738 (-)	3,078 (12%)	3,578 (16%)
Students who began first year (at opening of the year)	3,724	3,808 (2%)	4,411 (16%)	4,700 (Predicted)

 

This means that we have enjoyed an approximately 40% jump in the number of applicants within three years; and a slight increase in the rate of candidates accepting their offer of admission (an increase from about 85% to about 89%). The increase is all faculties at the university. A similar increase, albeit at a slightly more moderate rate, is also evident in the demand for master’s degree study at HUJI.

There is probably a variety of reasons for this significant increase in our popularity among applicants for study. The increase is partly explained by external changes (i.e., the size of the relevant cohort, the inability to travel for the “big trip” abroad), but the increase in the number of students in 2019-20, and partly in the coming year as well, is much greater than at other institutions in Israel. Moreover, we did not waive the psychometric requirement, and we did not decrease the acceptance threshold; in fact, in some cases, we even raised it. Another partial explanation, relevant to the increase in 2019-20, are initiatives and activities that we have undertaken to win tenders (including Havatsalot, and the police cadets academic program), improvement in marketing activities and growth in the number of students from East Jerusalem. However, it seems that at least part of the increase in demand to study at HUJI is due to an improvement in our conduct toward students, on the part of both administrative and academic staff. The improvement in our treatment of students in the department offices, the matter-of-fact and quick response that we provide to every request, the improvement in the teaching and in the instructors’ attitude towards students, the mentoring program, strengthening of the scholarship system,  and a variety of activities initiated by the Dean of Students, improvements in certain physical conditions on campus, promoting multiculturalism in the public space and more and more; all of this was done in recognition that this is the proper way to behave. Yet the welcome side-effect of these efforts is that those students who are already studying at HUJI are recommending us more strongly to their friends.

An indication of the last assessment is provided by in the two surveys that we conducted to assess student satisfaction. One survey deals with instruction in the various courses. Although the second semester was characterized by online teaching, students' satisfaction increased compared to previous semesters. The data in the table below reflect the university-wide average scores.  The Deans were provided with information about satisfaction with teaching for the particular faculty: (The score range is 1 to 9)

Satisfaction with the course				Teacher satisfaction
2018-19 1st semester	2018-19 2nd semester	2019-20 1st semester	2019-20 2nd semester	2018-19 1st semester	2018-19 2nd semester	2019-20 1st semester	2019-20 2nd semester
7.79	7.75	7.83	7.92	8.19	8.24	8.23	8.33

 

The said survey was conducted before the exam period. There was concern that the challenges that arose during the exams, including intervention of government officials in the format of the exams that we sought to conduct, would harm the level of student satisfaction. Yet I was pleasantly surprised. The General Satisfaction Survey, which opened on August 1, deals with student satisfaction with study at HUJI in general.  Processing of the results of the survey is in progress, but from data from about 80% of the respondents (about 7,000 students), a similar picture emerges: compared to previous years, there is a slight increase in student satisfaction with study at HUJI and in the willingness to recommend others to study with us. The results of the survey will be distributed in the coming weeks.

The increase in the number of students meant that we reached the maximum quota of students (bachelor's or master's degrees) for which we are budgeted by the Planning and Budgeting Committee. We were able to convince the PBC to increase the quota, from about 18,100 to 19,200 students, but it appears that the increased quota will be filled as early as next year. This will allow the admission thresholds to be raised for many study-tracks and will require a re-examination of the quotas in some fields of study. About 64% of all of our bachelor’s and master's degree students are studying for a bachelor's degree (about 12,000), a rate that is relatively high compared to what is prevalent at other universities, and we will examine promoting a change in the proportions between the two groups at HUJI.

2. We are all continuing to prepare for teaching in the coming academic year. We will resume campus activities as much as possible, subject to the constraints arising from the necessity to reduce the risk of contracting the virus. I urge faculty members to come physically to campus as much as possible. Under the guidance of the University administration, the units have established a plan to hold on campus a significant portion of the classes for first-year undergraduate students, and some of the other courses. Only some of the students will participate in the classes physically on campus, while the others will participate online. This year, too, we will continue with the mentors program, in which each faculty member will serve as a personal mentor for a limited number of first-year students.

Many of our faculty members attended a distance learning workshop developed by our Teaching and Learning Unit. I ask those who have not yet done so to attend the online workshop.  Additional dates for the workshop will be announced soon. The main insight I learned from the workshop, and which I intend to apply in the course that I will be teaching during the first semester, is the necessity to increase the mental presence of both the instructor and the students, which is sorely lacking in online teaching. This is done by integrating other activities alongside lectures. We should ask the students questions (and not settle just for answering students’ questions), we should include short recorded lectures with assignments in the course, we should introduce various tasks in the course and more.

Similar to the move taken in the semester that we just completed, in the upcoming semester we will work to ensure that the lessons are recorded and available to students studying the course. The recordings turned out to be an essential component in learning during the previous semester. In coordination with the academic staff union, the website for each course will have a link to the details of the arrangement regarding the filming and recording of lessons, and teachers will be invited to confirm their consent to the recording of lectures subject to this arrangement. The recordings will only be made available to students enrolled in the course in the relevant semester, through Moodle, and will be used solely for the purpose of personal study in the course.

We have increased the number of online instruction support staff members in the faculties and increased the Teaching and Learning Unit staff, in order to help promote the quality of teaching and learning. We are already preparing for the next examination period. For the first semester of the 2020-2021 academic year, numerical scores will be assigned. To this end, we are taking a number of steps. Among other things, a study is currently being conducted, led by the incoming Vice Rector, Lilach Sagiv, and the chair of the Teaching Technology Committee, Roy Shenhar, to examine the correlation between scores in online exams conducted this summer compared to the average scores in previous years, and to find a correlation between different methods for administering exams and reliable results. In addition, I repeat the request that all teachers incorporate in their courses alternative assessment components to a significant extent. Various studies point to the significant difficulty involved in running proctoring software and we intend to avoid using such software (see e.g. here). All teachers should have a short discussion with their students at the beginning of the course as to the importance of academic integrity in teaching and research, in its variety of aspects.

3. The task of determining the weight of quantitative indices that evaluate the quality of teaching and research at a university is a complicated matter. Our position is that neither of the two extreme alternatives is appropriate in this context: It might be possible to evaluate achievements in the field of research, teaching and public activity of an individual researcher without the use of quantitative indicators at all, I do not know of a way to do so reasonably when evaluating the activities of a large academic unit and the university as a whole. At the same time, the various metrics and rankings are inherently biased, as they measure only certain aspects of academic activity and ignore others, and therefore should not be seen as the end all and be all. Accordingly, we are examining our measured results in various indices, mainly to draw conclusions about changes in our situation compared to previous years, but we do not consider this a key criterion in policy setting and certainly not in making decisions regarding candidates and faculty members. The main such measure is the periodic evaluation of the various academic units. This is carried out by means of a detailed self-evaluation report that is prepared by the unit and a critical examination of the report that is carried out by an international expert committee.

One of the well-known (and also biased, due to the definitions on which it is based) indicators for evaluating academic institutions is the Shanghai Index. The index is biased, among other things, because it does not provide uniformity as pertains to standardization of achievements according to the number of faculty members (this is done for most countries in the Western world, but for some reason not for Israel), and because it places great emphasis on research activities in the field of experimental sciences and emphasis on the achievements of "stars”(70% of the score is given for alumni and faculty members who earned Nobel Prizes, for the number of faculty members who are authors of papers that are among the top percentile of most cited in the field, and for the number of articles published in only two journals, the major journals of  Science and Nature). Very little weight is given to the entire body of activity carried out by faculty members. Still, the Shanghai Index is a popular metric, and we do track our status there as well. The Shanghai Index results this year express stability: we remain ranked at 101st place in the world in this index (in the official report, we are in the group of institutions in 101st to 150th place, but the data on the site make it possible to also calculate the score of each institution in this group, and according to this, we are first in this group.) Below are our scores, which are determined relative to the leading institution:

 

HUJI	Alumni Awards for graduates	Award Staff awards	HiCi Authors of most cited papers	N&S Publications in Nature and Science	PUB Publications in journals	PCP Adjustment to size	Total Score	Ranking
2017	31.7	27.9	10.9	17.7	38.5	28.1	24.98	101-150
2018	31.7	27.9	13.5	17.9	39	28.1	26.2	95
2019	32.2	27.9	10.4	17.8	40	27.9	25.23	101
2020	31.2	27.3	14	16.7	39.7	22.6	24.9	101

 

The following table describes the ranking for HUJI and for the other three leading Israeli institutions in each of the parameters. 

 

PCP	Alumni	Award	S&N	HiCi	PUB	Overall	2020
202	88	99	30	65	623	93	Weizmann
207	25	47	158	246	275	101	HUJI
219	51	24	83	355	482	108	Technion
204	NA (0)	NA (0)	104	246	117	151-200	TAU

 

We estimate that with the increase in the number of faculty members at the Hebrew University and the promotion of research activities, our achievements in the field of publishing articles will improve, and it is likely that next year we will return to the group of 100 leading institutions in the Shanghai Index. It should be emphasized again: this is not a particularly reliable measure, and we use a wide range of other measures to assess our status.

 

Percentage in PBC Research model	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
HUJI	22.7	21.2	20.1	19.7	19.8	20.3
TAU	19.5	19.3	19.8	20.9	19.5	19.6
Technion	14.8	14.9	15.5	15.6	15.7	15.6
Weizmann	14.3	14.4	13.7	12.9	13.2	13.7
BGU	12.5	12.5	12.5	13.1	12.7	12.5
BIU	10.0	10.6	10.9	10.4	10.8	10.4
Haifa	6.1	7.0	7.3	7.5	7.9	7.9
Ariel			1.0	1.4	1.6	1.7

 

4. An important aspect in which the University's achievements according to quantitative indices is expressed, is the PBC budgeting model. It allocations fund about 65% of the University's budget. One part of the budget is based on the number of undergraduate and graduate students, distinguishing between the various fields of study. Thanks to the increase in the number of students, the University's budget has increased by about NIS 25 million this year, and next year another significant increase is expected in this component. The other part of the budget is based on an assessment of the scope and quality of research activities at the various institutions. This part of the budget is competitive. HUJI is once again at the top among Israeli institutions in the research component, although we do not have the largest number of faculty members.

Despite the increase in the PBC budget, the HUJI budget is not expected to increase next year, due to a significant decrease expected in fundraising for our current budget and a decrease in the yield on permanent funds, due to the coronavirus crisis. The University is also preparing for the possibility of State budget cuts, which will translate into PBC budget cuts. As a result, the coming year is expected to be relatively restrained in terms of budget. All academic units have submitted a detailed work plan for next year, including a budget that is designed in accordance with a budgeting model that basically resembles the BPC model. This year we could not increase the units' budgets, and only thanks to the balances left for most units in the 2020 budgets, the total volume of budgetary funds that will be available to most of the faculties in the coming year is similar to that in the 2020 budget. At the same time, we continue to make significant investments in infrastructure renewal, in a variety of areas of construction, and in computing and research equipment. We hope that we will be able to return soon to the growth trend that has been reflected in the past three years.

Thanks to generous donations, in the coming year construction is expected to begin on new buildings, mainly on the Safra campus (including new Brandman teaching laboratory building and a building for nanotechnology and quantum physics research, to mitigate adverse effects by the light rail); and on the Ein Kerem campus (a computational medicine building). We are currently beginning construction on the hi-tech park on the slopes of the Safra campus.

5. Reminder about Chevruta: This fantastic initiative, which has been running at the University for ten years, encourages doctoral students to form interdisciplinary study groups, and provides a symbolic scholarship to the group organizers. Details are available here. Please encourage the research students under your guidance to participate in the project.

6. As stated in the introduction, in the end-of-year update letter we recognize the members of the academic staff who are retiring. This is an opportunity to thank the new retirees for their wonderful contribution to the establishment of our learning and researching community and to its development, and to thank each and every one of them for their contribution to the advancement of science and society. The University encourages retirees to continue their academic activities, research and teaching, within the University. We also want to encourage retirees, veteran and new, to take part in a new project that provides academic assistance to first-year undergraduate students. Details of the program are available with the Deans. The names of the retirees, as well as the new recruits, are listed in the appendix to this letter.

Before signing off, and following the above discussion on "publication output," here is a nice quote from Rilke. Although it deals with writing poetry, not academic papers, I think that we would do well to keep them in mind too, as a counterweight to the duty to publish articles. Rilke wrote as follows (The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, trans. M.D. Herter Norton): 

For the sake of a few lines one must see many cities, men and things. One must know the animals, one must feel how the birds fly and know the gesture with which the small flowers open in the morning. One must be able to think back […] to parents that one had to hurt […] to childhood illness […]. One must have memories of many nights of love, none of which was like the others, of the screams of women in labor. But one must also have been beside the dying, one must have sat beside the dead in the room with the open window and the fitful noises. And still it is not enough to have memories. One must be able to forget them when they are many, and one must have the great patience to wait until they come again. For it is not yet the memories themselves. Not until they have turned to blood within us, to glance, to gesture, nameless and no longer to be distinguished from ourselves-not until then can it happen that in a most rare hour the first word of a verse arises in their midst and goes forth from them.

As usual, I welcome warmly your tips and suggestions. Good health to all. 

Best Regards,

Barak Medina, Rector