• Greetings,

Below please find an update on the University’s activities.

1. COVID-19: We continue to update the University community regarding the University’s activities vis a vis the pandemic relatively often, so I will not expand on this subject here.

The number of final exams taking place on campus this semester is very small, thanks to the advance preparations we made for the transition to alternative assessment methods (full or partial) in most courses. There is a greater than usual risk of breaking the rules on online exams, and we have taken steps to increase deterrence of academic dishonesty on exams, and detection of student copying on exams. In the online exams conducted so far during the COVID-19 period (since the second semester of 2020), there were only a few cases where there was a significant deviation in grades compared to the exams in the same courses in previous years.

We anticipate that it will be possible to open the second semester in campus, and we are preparing for this option. Our main challenge during this period, apart from the health challenge posed by the pandemic of course, is the adverse effect on research activity at the University, especially in the laboratories. The special adjustments made in view of the COVID-19 are supposed to alleviate this difficulty to some extent, and we will re-examine the situation in the coming months.

Many thanks to the University's team of experts, which includes Yinon Ashkenazy, Doron Gazit, and Nadav Katz (all three from the Institute of Physics), Ronit Calderon-Margalit (School of Public Health) and Ran Nir-Paz (Hadassah). The team has been volunteering for over a year and a half, with dedication and professionalism, making detailed forecasts, which turn out to be very accurate, advising the government as well as the University administration. The forecasts prepared by the team are published on the University's website, here.

2. Publication of Open Access (OA) articles. An issue that that has been concerning us for several years now is the high cost, which continues to rise, of publishing articles in an open access (OA) format. Until the full transition to the OA format is completed, the various academic institutions continue to pay the full cost of purchasing subscriptions for a pre-determined package of journals published by each publisher (the cost that all universities pay for subscriptions is about $30 million a year, of which about $11 million goes to the largest publisher, Elsevier, and the Hebrew University’s share in this is about $5 million). In addition, a fee is required for the publication of each article in OA, at a cost of thousands of dollars per article, which comes from the researchers’ budgets. We are working to formulate agreements with the publishers, to purchase a package that includes a subscription to read the journals and to pay in advance for the publication of articles in OA.

Following vigorous activity by HUJI Library Authority staff, we have reached a series of such agreements. As of now, researchers at the Hebrew University are no longer required to pay for the publication of articles in OA in journals published by two major publishers, Wiley and Cambridge UP, as well as in journals published by a series of smaller publishing houses. With another major publisher, Sage, the cost of publishing each article is now only £200 (about one tenth of the cost without the agreement). In order to receive the benefits, the Hebrew University should be cited by name in the description of the researcher’s institutional affiliation. For additional information please see here (the list is updated periodically).

On the other hand, so far, we have not been able to reach a similar agreement with the largest publisher, Elsevier (which dominates over a third of the article market). We are continuing efforts in that direction, and may have to consider taking a step similar institutions in a number of countries (including Germany, Sweden and the State of California in the USA), of canceling our contract with Elsevier, which means that instead of purchasing a subscription to read articles, the institutions will only fund the cost of publishing in OA. This issue continues to be examined, as are attempts to reach agreements with other publishing houses. Thank you to the excellent staff of the Library Authority for advancing the handling of this subject.

3. University ranking in Nature-Index. The trend of improvement in the University’s international status continues. The index published by the journal Nature is based on participation of the University’s researchers in articles published in 82 leading journals in the natural sciences, selected by a team of experts (this index does not weigh the author's position in the list of authors; each article is given one point, which is divided equally among all the authors). We advanced to 85th place among academic institutions in the world (and remained in second place among institutions in Israel):

 

 

Natural sciences	11/20-10/21		2020		2019		2018		2017		2016
	Articles	Ranking	Articles	Ranking	Articles	Ranking	Articles	Ranking	Articles	Ranking	Articles	Ranking
Weizmann	170	61	173	62	160	62	173	56	175	50	181	46
HUJI	137	85	127	100	118	98	111	98	117	93	121	85
Technion	111	112	121	107	99	128	107	106	86	140	104	102
TAU	98	130	91	145	108	104	85	149	91	125	76	165

Improvement in our ranking in life sciences (which also includes biomedical sciences) stands out: We are now ranked 57th among the academic institutions worldwide. Our rise in rankings based on the number of publications in only the top two journals, Nature and Science, continues:

Nature & Science	11/20-10/21		2020		2019		2018		2017
	Articles	Ranking	Articles	Ranking	Articular	Ranking	Articles	Ranking	Articles	Ranking
Weizmann	11.0	25	10.3	25	8.3	30	9.8	28	12.1	18
HUJI	3.4	72	3.0	98	1.0		1.2		3.3	65
Technion	3.2	76	2.6		1.9		4.6	55	3.3	63
TAU	1.4	169	1.9		1.8		1.8

In the arena of EU research grants (ERCF) for young researchers (researchers for whom up to 7 years have passed since earning their doctorate), we had only partial success this year:

ERC Starting 2021	Stage 1				Recipients (reserve)
	Physical & Engineering	Life Sciences	Social Sciences & Humanities	Total
HUJI	4/12	8/16	0/4	12/ 32	2 (3)
TAU	6/12	4/9	1/5	11/ 26	6 (2)
Weizmann	4/4	2/2	0/0	6/ 6	2 (1)
Technion	8/12	3/8	0/3	11/ 23	4
BGU	3/5	0/3	0/0	3/ 8	1 (1)
Bar-Ilan	1/2	2/2	0/0	3/ 4	2
Haifa	0/0	1/3	0/0	2/ 3	1

Congratulations to the two winners (Mor Arazi-Nitzan from the Computer Science Department and Yonit Hochberg from the Physics Department). There is still a chance that at least two of our three researchers whose research proposal is in reserve will eventually win a grant. Meanwhile, this is a significant decrease compared to last year, when 12 of the 24 bids submitted (compared to 12 of the 32 this year) moved to Phase II, and 5 won (compared to 2 so far this year). One of the issues we need to look at, regarding all types of ERC grants, is whether to adopt a policy of internal selection, based on previous scientific achievements or to continue to encourage the submission of a large number of proposals, without selection. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages, and the R&D and Rector's Office staff are discussing this matter. As for other research grants, the University's researchers have achieved excellent results, including on ISF-China grants (10 wins out of 31 submissions, and out of 39 grants awarded in total), and the Chief Scientist Grants awarded by the Israeli Ministries of Energy, Science and Agriculture.

4. Public sphere. As part of our efforts to improve the way in which faculty members treat students, we recommended that instructors encourage students to place a small sign with their name in front of them during the lesson. Addressing the student by name contributes to improved learning.

Another aspect where we need to improve is the presence of faculty members on campus. This is an issue that arises mainly in the academic units on Mount Scopus, where in many departments the customary culture is to be present on campus only one or two days a week. This harms social cohesion and prevents random encounters, which are known to have great significance in a variety of aspects. The Deans work to encourage presence of faculty on campus in a variety of ways, including providing incentives for teaching on Sundays and Thursdays and other ways.

The University continues to promote itself as a multicultural institution, encouraging partnership among members of various groups in society. These days, Michal Barak is ending her term as Head of the University's Diversity Unit. Michal (together with Michael Karayanni) established the Center for the Study of Diversity and Multiculturalism about six years ago and has since led the University's activities in these fields, making crucial contributions to promoting equality. Thanks to Michal, in excellent cooperation with the staff of the Equal Opportunities Unit in the Dean of Students Office, the Dean of Students Office, the Vice President for Diversity and Strategy, the Vice Rectors, the deans and especially faculty members, the Hebrew University is seen today as a role model for all institutions regarding the way in which an institution advances adequate representation among faculty and students for Arabs, members of the ultra-Orthodox community, Israelis of Ethiopian descent and first generation students pursuing higher education. One of many manifestations of this is in the number of Arab faculty members in the regular academic track at the University, which has doubled from 10 to 20 over the past four years (though their proportion out of the total academic staff – about 2 percent – is still far from desirable) and in the number and proportion of Arab students at the Hebrew University:

Arab students	2015/2016	2016/2017	2017/2018	2018/2019	2019/2020	2020/2021	2021/2022 (Expected)
Undergraduate	11.4%	12.0%	13.2%	14.2%	15.2%	15.9%	16.4%
	1,315	1,360	1,486	1,592	1,830	2,117	2,228
Master’s degree	6.3%	7.0%	7.9%	8.8%	9.4%	9.4%	10.2%
	386	429	470	533	594	609	598
Doctoral	5.0%	5.6%	5.8%	6.4%	6.6%	6.2%	7.4%
	113	125	131	143	154	156	144
Preparatory programs	139	218	205	297	454	529	574
Total	1,953	2,132	2,292	2,565	3,032	3,411	3,544

 

I thank Michal for her excellent work (and friendship) and wish her much success in the future. Michal's replacement will be selected in the coming days.

5. The Academic Calendar. The Standing Committee has decided to adopt the recommendation of the Teaching and Learning Procedures Committee and has determined that starting in the 2022/2023 academic year, in the middle of the first semester, there will be a week of vacation, close to the holiday of Hanukkah. The vacation is designed to allow students and teachers a refresher and is a courtesy to parents of young children, considering the week-long school Hanukkah holiday. The first semester will therefore now have 13 weeks (and not 14 as it has so far), similar to what is customary in other institutions in Israel. Further, it was decided that in the second semester there will also be exactly 13 meetings on each day of the week, and the calendar will be determined accordingly.

6. Registration for studies. Submission of applications for study at the University for the 2022/2023 academic year begins on January 23, 2022.

The staff of the Student Administration Division, in coordination with the Marketing Division, has developed a new website enabling candidates for study at the HUJI to examine their chances of being admitted. Admission thresholds to the University have been raised slightly in many departments, due to excess demand. At the same time, we continue our extensive activities to provide equal opportunities to first-generation students pursuing higher education, through a wide range of scholarship programs, the provision of an academic support program, counseling in choosing a field of study, dedicated admission tracks and more. We will hold a general "open day" on March 11 (on the Safra campus) and on the Rehovot campus on February 25.

Our main goal, in addition to the admission of about 4,800 first-year undergraduate students, is to increase the number of master's degree students at the HU. In this context, various adjustments were made in the curricula in many classes on Mount Scopus; and a significant increase in the number of scholarships to be awarded to master’s degree students in the empirical sciences is expected. We continue our efforts to increase the number of students that the University is allowed to educate.

7. Development plan. The University administration is formulating a new strategic plan, designed to update the ten-year plan set in 2017. To this end, a committee, led by the Vice President for Diversity and Strategy, has been established to determine the development plan. The committee is expected to contact faculty members to submit proposals.

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions for improvement.

Wishing you good health.

Barak Medina