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third of public school children are educated in charters.
Vouchers offer political benefits because they are at-
tractive to religious, home-schooling and suburban voters.
Amid great fanfare, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida and other
Republican-led states have passed laws allowing parents
to use vouchers to direct public dollars to private schools
they choose, including religious ones. “Republicans have
long been supportive of charter schools even though most of
their constituents do not attend,” says Michael Petrilli of the
Fordham Institute, a think-tank. However, school-choice
plans “can result in money actually in the pockets of Repub-
lican constituents… and so I think that has obvious appeal.”

PALESTINE
Educide charge Al Israa University under fire: intentional plan?

ISRAEL HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF deliberately Elham Kateeb, dean of scientific research at Al-Quds
targeting universities and academics in Gaza as University, says all Palestinian universities in the West
part of a strategy branded “educide”. Following the Bank are delivering education through distance learning
controlled demolition of Al-Israa University, Israeli army and have tailored in-person teaching to address safety con-
footage of which was widely shared on social media, every cerns on the roads and challenges at checkpoints. “Despite
single higher education institution in Gaza is believed to the setbacks, universities can play a pivotal role in leading
have either been destroyed or severely damaged since the Palestinians towards their goals and state-building. This
invasion began. commitment is embedded in their core missions of educa-
Samia Al-Botmeh, assistant professor of economics at tion, research and community service,” says Kateeb.
Birzeit University in the West Bank, told Times Higher Edu-
cation that the elaborate effort required to destroy large AUSTRALIA
public buildings such as Al-Israa meant that it could only Scholarships boom
be part of an intentional plan to make Gaza “uninhabit-
able”. “The destruction of the education sector is part of CORONAVIRUS HAS TAKEN THE SHEEN FROM
this overarching strategy of the destruction of every aspect Australian universities’ golden goose, with dis-
of services in Gaza that make life there possible,” she says. counting, offshoring and other factors slashing
Recent figures from Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor the per-student value of international education at many
indicate that Israeli military action has killed at least 94 institutions.
university professors in Gaza since the country began its re- A Times Higher Education analysis shows that while
taliation for Hamas’ October 7 attacks, as well as hundreds overseas enrolments took a battering from Covid-19, so did,
of lecturers and thousands of students. tuition fees. Compared with 2019, per-student earnings for
The organisation claimed that Israel had “targeted aca- almost half the sector are down at least 10 percent — and
demic, scientific, and intellectual figures in the Strip in de- sometimes much more — in 2022, the most recent year for
liberate and specific air raids on their homes without prior which enrolment and revenue figures are available.
notice”. Lower-ranked universities with substantial overseas en-
Neve Gordon, an Israeli professor of human rights law at rolments have fared worst, relinquishing about 15-30 per-
Queen Mary University, London, says “academia has been cent of their per-student income. They now face a big task
destroyed” in Gaza as part of an “educide”. “The damage rebuilding per-student returns as well as student numbers.
of three months will take 10-20 years to recover from,” International student fees are vitally important to these
says Prof. Gordon, vice-president of the British Society for often cash-strapped institutions, providing on average 27
Middle East Studies. percent of their operating revenue in 2019, but that fell to
Israel has defended the bombing of some universities by 20 percent in 2022. Another 11 universities saw their per-
claiming that they were being used as training camps for student income fall by up to 10 percent. International edu-
Hamas, but Dr. Al-Botmeh says education is being targeted cation analyst Keri Ramirez says almost all Australian uni-
because it is a “survival mechanism” for Palestinians. “We versities have offered scholarships to new overseas recruits
see it as a mechanism of resistance, and, of course, Israel in 2022, typically reducing tuition costs by 15-20 percent.
understands that, so is trying to undermine our capacity to Ramirez says average international fees have risen by
survive, to resist, and our capacity to continue as a people,” just 1.5 percent in 2022, compared with 5 percent before
she says. the pandemic. Meanwhile, lockdowns and other “severe

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