The Higher Education System in Israel

S 50 years after the establishment of the state of Israel and some 75 years after the opening of the first institutions for higher education in Israel, Israeli higher education is facing new challenges at the threshold of the 21st century. The first two institutions emerged as part of the Jewish settlement in Israel in the early years of the century, especially with the waves of new immigrants that arrived after World War I. In 1948, at the time of the establishment of Israel, only about 1,500 students attended these two institutions. During the first decade of the state of Israel, two new universities were opened, and the number of students at the end of the 1950s reached about 9,500. During the 1960s, two more universities were opened,1 and the number of students at the end of this decade stood at 35,000. In the 1970s the number of students grew by some 55 percent, to about 55,000, in 1979. The 1990s were years of very fast growth. The number of students doubled, reaching about 150,000 in 1998. Some 29 new institutions for higher education were opened.2 In an international comparison, Israel occupies a very respectable position: 10th place regarding the number of students per capita in postsecondary education, and 7th regarding the proportion of entering students in tertiary and higher education in an average cohort (after the United States, Japan, Denmark, Sweden, France, and Germany). Israel stands in third place (after Germany and the United Kingdom) in the number of degrees awarded in mathematics, computer sciences, the natural sciences, and engineering, as well as in the number of advanced degrees awarded relative to the size of the work force. These figures are the fruit of a clear policy and ongoing national investment in education at all levels and especially in higher education. The national expenditure on tertiary education in Israel is 1.7 percent of the GDP, which places Israel second (after the United States) in international comparisons with developed countries. Regarding the national expenditure per student in postsecondary education as a percentage of the GDP, Israel takes the first place (at 73.4 percent) among developed countries.3 The framework of the system of higher education in Israel is defined in the higher education law, enacted in 1958. This law established the Council for Higher Education and procedures for the accreditation of institutions of higher education, as well as the powers and responsibilities of the council. Its council acts as a buffer body between the government and academia. The principal functions are to accredit an institution as an institution of higher education; to grant a permit for an academic program; to authorize an accredited institution to confer an academic degree; to license the branches and extensions of foreign universities to operate in Israel; and to make recommendations to the government regarding higher education planning (including the establishment of additional institutions of higher education). The council has 24 members, appointed by the president of the country, chaired ex-officio by the minister of education. The vice-chairman of the council is traditionally a former justice of the Supreme Court. The higher education law defines the unique status of the institutions of higher education. It states that institutions of higher education enjoy academic and administrative independence. In this sense, the Israeli law is unique: no similar law exists, in any other known country, that grants such a vast degree of academic and administrative freedom to institutions of higher education. Up until the early 1970s, the council dealt only with academic issues, while the Ministry of Education treated budgetary issues. In 1972 the council decided to establish, as a permanent subcommittee, the planning and budgeting committee (PBC) and to delegate to it the planning and budgeting responsibilities of the council. This step was endorsed by a government decision defining the PBC’s role as an independent intermediary body between the government and institutions of higher education in all matters relating to planning and allocations. The PBC examines requests to open new institutions, new units, or new academic programs—from the planning, budgetary and financial points of view—and submits its recommendations to the council. The council will not consider any request unless it has been discussed and recommended by the PBC.