Abstract
The article focuses on the meaning college students, who were born in the Former Soviet Union and immigrated to Israel between their 8th and 16th birthday, assign to higher education. It contends that higher education becomes a marker of Russian ethnicity in Israel. Aiming to compensate for their parents’ downward social and professional mobility, the students express pragmatic motives in their choice of majors for the prestigious occupations and seek professions with globally relevant and transferable job potential. In addition, commitment to education is a milestone in the formation of Russian social spaces, which make it possible for the students to differentiate themselves from Israelis of the working class amongst whom they often reside out of financial necessity. The study rests on constructive interviews with 30 Russian-born students, where most of them live in small peripheral towns an hour away from Tel-Aviv, and study in three different academic settings.
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