Indian Students and Academic Links

How many Indian students are in Israel, and what do they study?

The Embassy of India in Tel Aviv states that around 900 Indian students are enrolled at Israeli universities and institutes, and that most of them are doing doctoral or postdoctoral work [1]. The figure appears on an Embassy page dated 9 August 2022, and the Embassy has not published a newer count there. Indians in Israel therefore usually arrive as researchers attached to a laboratory and a named supervisor, not as undergraduates. Agriculture shows the pattern clearly. The Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, which falls under Israel's Ministry of Agriculture, hosted nearly 60 Indian postdoctoral fellows in 2022, according to reporting by ThePrint [2]. Fellowships there ran from three months to two years, and many fellows stayed longer by renewing contracts or finding outside funding [2]. The same report recorded complaints from some fellows that Indian institutes gave little hiring credit for their Israeli experience. The Indian Council of Medical Research and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research both denied any bias [2]. Students form a small part of the wider Indian presence in Israel. When war broke out in October 2023, about 18,000 Indian nationals lived and worked in Israel, including caregivers, students, IT professionals and diamond traders [3]. Researchers are a small group within that community, but they are the group most closely tied to Israel's universities and laboratories.

What scholarships support Indian researchers in Israel?

The main Israeli instrument is a postdoctoral fellowship run by the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) of the Council for Higher Education. The PBC started the programme in the 2012-13 academic year, together with the Ministry of Finance, as part of a wider government plan to strengthen ties with India and China [4]. Its stated goals were to encourage research collaboration with both countries and to increase the number of outstanding postdoctoral researchers in Israeli universities [4]. A steering committee appointed by the PBC chairman selects the fellows on academic merit [4]. By the 2017-18 application cycle, the programme had granted 346 fellowships to Chinese and Indian researchers combined. The Council's page does not split this total by country [4]. Later calls set out the terms in more detail. For the 2019-20 cycle, the PBC offered up to 55 fellowships a year. Each lasted two academic years and paid NIS 115,000 per year, and the host university added NIS 5,000 a year for international travel [5]. Candidates apply directly through the Israeli universities [5]. India runs parallel schemes that bring Israeli scholars to Indian campuses. The Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), started under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, funds partnerships with leading institutions in 28 countries, Israel among them [1]. The Visiting Advanced Joint Research Faculty (VAJRA) programme of the Science and Engineering Research Board lets Israeli scientists serve as adjunct or visiting faculty at publicly funded Indian institutions [1]. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations has also placed short-term chairs at Tel Aviv and Haifa universities to teach Indian history, culture and philosophy [1]. Together these schemes move scholars in both directions.

Which joint funds pay for India-Israel research?

Three channels carry most of the funded research. The first is the programme between India's University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Israel Science Foundation (ISF). The Embassy of India records that it has run since 2013, with each government contributing USD 12.5 million over five academic years starting in 2014-15 [1]. A grant can reach USD 300,000 for an experimental project or USD 180,000 for a theoretical one, for up to three years [1]. Project counts differ by source and date. The Embassy of India reported 41 funded projects across the humanities, life sciences and social sciences as of August 2022 [1]. The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities now lists the UGC among the ISF's past partners [6]. In 2022 the Embassy of India said the two sides were discussing whether to continue the programme [1]. The second channel is government research calls. India's Department of Science and Technology (DST) opened the India-Israel Joint Research Program call to proposals from 24 March to 2 May 2023 [7]. The third channel connects research to industry. The I4F memorandum was concluded in July 2017. The Indian Cabinet approved it on 30 August 2017, with each country contributing USD 4 million a year for five years under a joint board of four members from each side [8]. The DST described the fund as an outcome of the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Israel. The first four joint projects were awarded at a July 2018 conclave organised by the DST, the Israel Innovation Authority, the Global Innovation and Technology Alliance and the Confederation of Indian Industry [9]. The fund remains active. Its fourteenth general call closed on 11 May 2026 and invited industry and academic applicants working where cyberspace meets physical systems [10].

Which institutions anchor the relationship?

Formal university-to-university links grew after the Indian President's visit to Israel in 2015, when several memoranda between academic institutions of the two countries were signed [1]. The Embassy of India reports that the pace of new linkages has continued since then [1]. Area studies give the relationship a permanent home on both sides. Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Haifa offer courses on India [1]. In India, a Centre for Israel Studies opened at the Jindal School of International Affairs in 2012. Tel Aviv University set up a Centre for Israel Studies in Mumbai in 2017, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev opened a research centre on desert agriculture in Chennai in 2020 [1]. Under the Government of India's "Bharat Ek Parichay" initiative, the Embassy has set up "India Corners" with books and teaching material at Tel Aviv University, Haifa University, Bar-Ilan University and the Hebrew University [1]. The newest Israeli chair dates from December 2025. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Tel Aviv University signed an agreement to establish the ICCR-TAU India Chair, formalised during a campus visit by Ambassador J.P. Singh [11]. The talks covered research collaboration with leading Indian institutions and joint programmes for research students aligned with India's National Education Policy [11]. Tel Aviv University President Ariel Porat proposed a new Forum on Innovations and Education to serve as a channel for direct dialogue between leading Israeli and Indian universities [11].

How did the academic link hold through the war period, October 2023 to December 2025?

After the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, India launched Operation Ajay to bring home citizens who wished to leave. Departure was voluntary. The Embassy of India said it had contacted students, caregivers and business people, and it allocated travel slots on a first-come, first-served basis among registered citizens [3]. The first charter flight carried 212 people. By 14 October, 644 Indian nationals had been flown out [3]. Among the early returnees was a doctoral student at Bar-Ilan University's Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in Safed, who told the Press Trust of India that he was grateful to the Government of India for the evacuation [12]. The numbers show that most of the roughly 18,000 Indian nationals in Israel did not take the flights in the first week [3]. Academic engagement also continued after the first phase of the war. In December 2025, when the ICCR-TAU India Chair was signed, the Indian Ambassador and Tel Aviv University leaders held an open discussion with Indian students then studying at the university [11]. The same meeting produced the proposal for a university dialogue forum [11]. Two months later, the two governments raised the academic agenda to the level of heads of government.

What did the February 2026 Special Strategic Partnership add?

The Indian Prime Minister's visit to Israel produced a formal list of outcomes, published by the Prime Minister's Office on 26 February 2026 [13]. The two countries raised their relationship to a Special Strategic Partnership [13]. Several outcomes touch education and research directly. An MoU on advancing education through artificial intelligence covers teaching methods, teacher development, regulatory frameworks, equal access to AI tools, research exchange, and AI and data literacy [13]. An MoU between Nalanda University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem sets up a framework for faculty and student exchange in Buddhist studies, archaeology, mathematics and international relations [13]. A separate MoU on artificial intelligence lists academic research among its areas of cooperation [13]. A Letter of Intent on an Indo-Israel Cyber Centre of Excellence in India calls for collaboration among government, industry and academia [13]. An MoU between ICAR and MASHAV sets up the India-Israel Innovation Centre for Agriculture, which includes capacity building [13]. A Cultural Exchange Programme covers 2026 to 2029 [13]. The announcements go further. The Joint Committee on Science and Technology was raised to ministerial level. The two governments announced 20 joint fellowships in agricultural research, larger contributions from both sides to joint research calls, and an India-Israel Academic Cooperation Forum [13]. The outcomes list does not give amounts for the larger contributions or a start date for the Forum [13].

In One Paragraph

India-Israel academic ties rest on researchers rather than undergraduates. The Embassy of India counts about 900 Indian students in Israel, mostly at doctoral and postdoctoral level. Israel's Council for Higher Education has funded Indian and Chinese postdoctoral fellows since 2012-13, with up to 55 two-year fellowships a year. The UGC-ISF programme, started in 2013 with USD 12.5 million from each government, and the USD 40 million I4F fund, agreed in July 2017 and still issuing calls in 2026, pay for joint research. Area studies centres in Mumbai, Chennai and Sonipat, India courses and India Corners at Israeli universities, the ICCR-TAU India Chair of December 2025, and the Nalanda-Hebrew University MoU of February 2026 anchor the links. The February 2026 Special Strategic Partnership added an AI-in-education MoU, 20 joint agricultural research fellowships, larger joint research funding and an India-Israel Academic Cooperation Forum.

Sources

1. Embassy of India, Tel Aviv. "India-Israel Academic and Research Cooperation." August 9, 2022; page last updated July 10, 2026.https://www.indembassyisrael.gov.in/pages?id=mep2b&subid=PdRqb.
2. ThePrint. "Doing Research in Israel, Indian Post-Docs Say Can't Get Jobs at 'Biased' Institutes Back Home." ThePrint, 2022.https://theprint.in/india/doing-research-in-israel-indian-post-docs-say-cant-get-jobs-at-biased-institutes-back-home/1223273/.
3. "Third Batch of 197 Indian Nationals Fly Out from Israel." The Tribune (Chandigarh), October 14, 2023.https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/india/third-batch-of-197-indian-nationals-fly-out-from-israel-553295/amp.
4. Council for Higher Education in Israel. "A Fellowship Program for Outstanding Post-Doctoral Researchers from China and India in Israeli Universities."https://che.org.il/en/academic-cooperation-with-china-and-india-general-information/a-fellowship-program-for-outstanding-post-doctoral-researchers-from-china-and-india-in-israeli-universities/.
5. Council for Higher Education in Israel. "PBC Scholarship Program for Outstanding Post-Doctoral Students."https://che.org.il/en/students-information/pbc-scholarship-program-outstanding-post-doctoral-students/.
6. Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. "Israel Science Foundation." Under “International Activity” section.https://academy.ac.il/RichText/GeneralPage.aspx?nodeId=860.
7. Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. "India-Israel Joint Research Program (IIJRC) - 2023, Is Open for Project Submission." March 24, 2023.https://dst.gov.in/callforproposals/india-israel-joint-research-program-iijrc-2023-open-project-submission.
8. Press Information Bureau, Government of India. "Cabinet Approves MoU on 'India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund.'" August 30, 2017.https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1501196&reg=3&lang=2.
9. Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. "Four Joint Industrial R&D Projects Were Today Awarded under the US$40 Million Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F)." Press release, July 2018.https://dst.gov.in/pressrelease/four-joint-industrial-rd-projects-were-today-awarded-under-us40-million-industrial-rd.
10. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. "Calls for Proposal for Israel-India (I4F) General Call for Proposals (CFP 14)." 2026.https://www.csir.res.in/en/News/Call-for-proposals/Announcements/calls-proposal-israel-india-i4f-general-call-proposals-cfp-14.
11. "ICCR India Chair MoU Signed at Tel Aviv University." Jerusalem Post, December 16, 2025.https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-880457.
12. Press Trust of India. "Second Flight Carrying 235 Indians from Israel Arrives in Delhi." Deccan Herald, October 14, 2023.https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/story/india%2Fsecond-flight-carrying-235-indian-nationals-from-israel-lands-at-delhi-airport-2726642.
13. Prime Minister's Office, Government of India. "List of Outcomes: Visit of PM to Israel." February 26, 2026.https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/list-of-outcomes-visit-of-pm-to-israel/.