University of Haifa in economic crisis: 170 lecturers fired or had their positions reduced
The University of Haifa is facing a 60 million shekel annual deficit. As part of a recovery plan, 170 non-tenured lecturers have received notices of dismissal or position reductions.
The University of Haifa is suffering from a deficit of about 60 million shekels per year and is in the advanced stages of formulating a recovery plan. The university has committed to the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education (VATAT) to cuts of 160 million shekels over the next four years. 170 non-tenured lecturers, out of 1,200, received notice last week of dismissal or a reduction in their position. Senior faculty lecturers will be required to increase their teaching hours, which is considered a severe blow to research working conditions. It is still unclear if there will be layoffs among the administrative staff.
The main cause of the crisis is, as it was in the past at the Hebrew University, the obligations for budgetary pensions. The State Comptroller warned about the problem as early as 2022, but only at the beginning of this year did the university submit a recovery plan to VATAT, which was approved in May. In the State Comptroller's report from May 2022, it was warned that the accumulated deficit of the University of Haifa had reached more than a billion shekels. Although VATAT classified the university with a red risk rating, no recovery and efficiency plan was formulated until this year.
Financial indicators and causes of the crisis
The efficiency plan includes internal cuts of 160 million shekels: 24 million will be saved in the upcoming 5787 (2026/27) academic year and 46 million shekels on average in each of the next three years (5788–5790). In the decision taken by VATAT, the deficit is explained by two main reasons:
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The end of actuarial reserves in the budgetary pension fund, which creates a deficit of 42 million shekels per year.
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The change in the research budgeting model, which causes the university, specializing in social and human sciences, to lose another 16 million shekels per year.
As part of the agreement, VATAT plans to delay the change in the budgeting model and increase student quotas. Another move is the expected merger with the Kinneret Academic College in 2030, which will become an engineering faculty.
Conflict with staff
The University of Haifa is negotiating with three committees on the implementation of the efficiency plan. The junior staff, i.e., lecturers without tenure, are expected to be hit the hardest. 170 members of the junior staff received notices last week of dismissal or reduction of their position. The chairman of the junior staff organization, Dr. Hedva Eyal, stated: "We are aware of the university's situation, but the junior staff also have rights."
Nitzan Hadas, a consultant to the junior staff organization, noted: "There is a large number of senior academic staff members at the university who are employed beyond 100% of a position. It is unreasonable that the university did not even check for a reduction of their position while people who are employed at a quarter position are being sent home."
For senior staff, the most severe damage expected is the increase in teaching hours from 6 to 8 hours per week. In a letter to senior staff members on August 8, the chairman of the senior staff organization, Prof. Rami Reshef, accused the university management of "carrying out unilateral moves that harmed the salaries of the staff members and working conditions."
The University of Haifa is a public research university established in 1963 with about 17,000 students. Its budget from VATAT in the 5785 (2024/25) academic year stood at 792 million shekels and rose in 5786 (2025/26) to 800 million. The university chose to ignore questions about the crisis, instead claiming a "significant period of growth" and "financial resilience."
