THE IMAGE OF ISRAELI UNIVERSITIES AS PERCEIVED BY JOURNALISTS: POLICY AND PLANNING IMPLICATIONS

Universities throughout the world are being held increasingly accountable to society, and demands are being made that universities provide solutions to problems facing society. The demands seem to be correlated with the image of the universities.

In the present study, the overall image of Israeli universities is perceived to be positive, mainly because of their successes in the areas of scientific and technological endeavour. For this reason, much credit is given to them despite the minimal contribution they are perceived to have made to society in other important domains.

However, because of the serious economic crisis facing Israel, coupled with social problems of major magnitude, it is thought that in the foreseeable future the positive image of Israeli universities will change and a greater amount of accountability and contribution to society will be called for, especially in the moral, social, and economic spheres. University policy will be placed under increasing pressure to become more congruent with reality so as to provide conditions under which the universities may continue to enjoy public support as well as government aid.