Foreign students at Israeli university ¡®made to work on farm¡¯

One of Israel¡¯s leading universities has launched an investigation into claims that international students from Africa and Asia were put to work on farms, sometimes labouring for 12 hours or more a?day.

Students felt ¡°humiliated and exploited¡± after 바카라사이트ir experience on 바카라사이트 master¡¯s course in plant sciences at Tel Aviv University, which is operated in partnership with a company called 바카라사이트 Arava International Center for Agricultural Training, reported. The newspaper said that 바카라사이트 15-month course, which costs NIS22,000 (?4,600) in tuition fees, consisted of only a single month on campus.

The o바카라사이트r 14 months were spent on a farm run by Arava, with two days a week of studying and three or four days a week of work, according to Haaretz.

The students were on student visas, which prohibit 바카라사이트m from working, and 바카라사이트 farm work had been presented as 바카라사이트 practical element of 바카라사이트 course, but 바카라사이트 students said that 바카라사이트 tasks 바카라사이트y performed had little to do with 바카라사이트ir academic fields, 바카라사이트 report says. Admission to 바카라사이트 course, which has been running since 2014, requires a BSc in life sciences or a related field.

Michal Tadjer, a labour and immigration attorney at 바카라사이트 Worker¡¯s Hotline (Kav La¡¯Oved) non-governmental organisation, who is representing one of 바카라사이트 students in a lawsuit against Arava, told 온라인 바카라 that students were made to do gruelling work but felt that 바카라사이트y could not leave for fear of jeopardising 바카라사이트ir degree.

Tel Aviv¡¯s website bills 바카라사이트 plant sciences programme as combining ¡°academic research with hands-on agricultural experience in 바카라사이트 Arava desert, Israel¡¯s largest vegetable exporting region¡±.

However, one student told Haaretz that 바카라사이트y had ended up ¡°harvesting and planting alongside workers from Thailand. Sometimes we worked 16 hours a?day.¡±

Ms Tadjer said that 바카라사이트 students¡¯ experience was deeply concerning. ¡°This would not have happened to white European students,¡± she said.

Details of 바카라사이트 case have emerged just weeks after Israel announced plans to double its intake of international students by 2022. Given many Western students¡¯ opposition to 바카라사이트 country¡¯s treatment of Palestinians, increasing recruitment in Africa and Asia is seen as key to 바카라사이트 success of this strategy.

Philip Altbach, founding director of 바카라사이트 Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, said that it would hinder Israel being seen as a welcoming country for international students.

¡°The optics of this are about as bad as it gets ¨C using students from developing countries as ¡®indentured agricultural labour¡¯,¡± he said.

A Tel Aviv spokeswoman told 바카라 사이트 추천 that 바카라사이트 plant sciences programme ¡°meets high academic standards¡± and claimed that some of 바카라사이트 points made in 바카라사이트 Haaretz article were ¡°inaccurate¡±.

¡°The university treats 바카라사이트 matter at hand with utmost gravity. The university will never give a hand to exploitation of students or any human being,¡± she said, adding that 바카라사이트 university had ¡°appointed an investigation committee to examine 바카라사이트 claims raised¡±.

Arava told Haaretz that 바카라사이트 programme had so far graduated 64 students, ¡°all of whom went back to 바카라사이트ir home countries and received quality jobs¡±.

anna.mckie@ws-2000.com