Council for Higher Education in Israel

The Council for Higher Education is Israel's principal statutory authority for the governance of higher education, responsible for licensing new institutions, granting accreditation, authorizing academic degrees, assessing academic quality, and advising the government on higher-education policy and financing.[3][4] Its establishment reflected a deliberate decision to place higher education under an independent, autonomous body designed to protect institutional autonomy and academic freedom from political interference.[1]

Institutions accredited by the Council are authorized to award academic degrees, and the use of protected designations such as "university," "faculty," and "academy" requires Council authorization.[6] Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research data indicate that accredited institutions in Jerusalem include the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, seven academic colleges — among them Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies — and four schools of education.[7] A Knesset Research and Information Center paper characterizes the Council as a buffer and mediator between the political and academic spheres, intended to preserve academic autonomy.[8]

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs argues that budgeting and policy-making in Israeli higher education are shared among the Council, universities' national governing boards, and each university's senate, likening these bodies — explicitly as a rough analogy — to different levels of governmental authority.[9]

The Council was established under the Council for Higher Education Law, 5718–1958. The National Library Law, 5768–2007, also references that statute and defines an "institution of higher education" as one recognized under its section 9.[10] The CHE's own account states that the law's purpose was to place higher education under an independent, autonomous body, specifically to shield institutional and academic freedom from political pressure.[1]

At Israel's founding, only two universities were operating; five additional universities were established during the 1950s and 1960s.[11] Enrollment grew rapidly over the following decades: from approximately 1,600 students at the state's establishment to about 9,000 by the end of its first decade, more than 35,000 in academic year 1969–70, about 76,000 in 1989–90, and approximately 166,000 in 1999–2000 across first-, second-, and third-degree studies.[11] Amendment No. 10 to the Council for Higher Education Law, enacted in the 1990s, enabled the opening of general, technological, and professional academic colleges, some of which operated without public funding.[11]

The relationship among the State of Israel, the Jewish Agency, and the universities was institutionalized through the Council, making it not merely an administrative body but a structural link between national and academic governance.[9] Israel's Initial Report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights confirms the Council as the body established under the 1958 law to authorize and accredit higher-education institutions to award degrees.[12]

The Council for Higher Education Law prescribes a membership of between 19 and 25 members.[1] The Minister of Education chairs the Council ex officio and is responsible for implementing the law, as well as appointing the Council's director-general.[6] At least two-thirds of members must be people of standing in higher education, recommended by the Minister after consultation with recognized institutions, with all types of recognized institutions to be represented.[1] An older Council overview listed additional public representatives including a member of the bench, an industrialist, and a student representative.[6] Members are presented to the President of Israel by the Government, based on the Education Minister's recommendations, for five-year terms.[1]

The CHE's current "About us" page describes two student members: the chairperson of the Student Union and another representative selected at the general assembly of the organization represented by that candidate.[1] An older English CHE page instead identifies the seats as belonging to the chairperson of the National Union of Students in Israel and the chairperson of the Israeli Students' Organization.[3]

A 2012 Ynet account likewise described five-year Council terms and a membership composed mostly of academics, with a minority of public and student representatives.[2]

The Council's statutory powers are broad and cover the full lifecycle of higher-education institutions.[13] It licenses the establishment and operation of new institutions, subject to government approval; if it refuses a license, the Minister of Education may appeal to the Government, which can direct the Council to reconsider, with the Government's final decision binding.[6] Accreditation is similarly subject to government approval; when the Government requests further deliberation, the Council's decision after reconsideration is final, and the President of the State formally confers the accreditation certificate, with notice published in the Official Gazette (Reshumot).[6]

The Council may also rescind accreditation, but that action requires government ratification; if the Government does not ratify the withdrawal, the Council's decision after further deliberation is final.[6] Beyond accreditation and licensing, the Council authorizes recognized institutions to award academic degrees and regulates the use of protected institutional names — including "university," "faculty," and "academy."[6] It can propose institutional consolidation, recommend cooperation in teaching and research, license branches of foreign institutions operating in Israel, and assess the quality of fields of study.[3]

The Council also recognizes degrees awarded by accredited institutions in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the geographic wording used on the CHE's own website.[3] The Knesset Research and Information Center describes the Council's role as formulating policy and administering the higher-education system as a whole, with budgetary aspects handled through the Planning and Budgeting Committee.[8]

The Council submits recommendations to the Government through its financial subcommittee addressing higher-education development and state participation in system budgets, in accordance with Israel's social and national requirements.[6] It is also empowered by law to advise the Government on higher-education development and the financing of higher education and scientific research.[13]

The Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) — called the Planning and Grants Committee in some older English-language overviews — was established by the CHE in 1972, when the Council delegated funding authorities to it.[1][6] A government resolution of June 6, 1977 formally expressed support for the PBC as a CHE subcommittee, and on October 14, 1975, the CHE designated it as the committee referred to in Article 3 of the law.[1]

The PBC functions as an independent intermediary between the government and national institutions on one side and higher-education institutions on the other.[4] Current official CHE material states that it consists of seven members: five prominent academic figures, including one representing a budgeted non-university institution, and two representatives of economics in the broad sense. Members are appointed for three-year terms by the Minister of Education, based on the PBC chairperson's recommendations and with CHE approval.[1] Older overviews described a six-member committee — four senior academics and two representatives of business and economics — elected by the Council in a secret ballot for three-year terms and eligible for one reelection.[6]

The committee's stated duties include proposing regular and development budgets based on social and national needs while maintaining academic freedom; allocating approved funding to institutions; proposing development plans and financing arrangements; encouraging efficiency and coordination among institutions; monitoring budget use to avoid deficits or overruns; and advising the Council on proposed new institutions or units with major financial implications.[4] By 2015, the planned higher-education budget that the PBC distributed stood at NIS 9.5 billion, covering 29 institutions that benefited from the government budget directly, alongside 21 teacher-training colleges funded through the Education Ministry and 16 institutions not supported by the state budget at all.[5]

An older Council overview reported that the financial subcommittee earmarked 4% of its resources for special support for research, channeled primarily through the Basic Research Fund and funds operated jointly with the Atomic Energy Commission and the Defence Ministry's Research and Development Unit.[6] It also reported support for universities' computer facilities, supercomputer acquisition, library book and journal purchases, and interlibrary cooperation — including a network linking computerized catalogues using Aleph software.[6] Another historical overview attributed approximately 70% of higher-education funding to public funds, around 20% to tuition, and the remainder to private sources.[14]

State support for major national institutions has also been channeled through the PBC. The committee's annual subsidy to the Jewish National and University Library rose to NIS 30 million from 1999, representing the largest share of that library's budget; in 2002, the library's total budget was NIS 60 million, with the subsidy constituting approximately half.[15] The PBC has also accredited academic journals. The Institute for National Security Studies describes Strategic Assessment as a multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal published in Hebrew and English, and its archive begins in 1998.[16]

Some observers have argued that the PBC has exercised greater practical influence than the full Council in budgetary matters, functioning as the executive arm of the CHE rather than merely an advisory subcommittee.[17]

Among the Council's targeted support programs, the Allon Grants for Young Scholars were designed to help universities recruit outstanding early-career academics.[6] An older Council overview reported approximately 20 to 30 three-year grants annually, each equivalent to the average cost of employing a lecturer or senior lecturer.[6] Grants were awarded based solely on individual excellence, with no restrictions tied to university affiliation or academic discipline, allowing competition across all fields and institutions.[6]

The Council decided on June 3, 2003 to establish a formal quality-assessment and assurance system for Israeli higher education, which took effect in academic year 2004–2005.[18] The system provides for the evaluation of study programs every six years and of institutions every eight years.[18] Its stated aims include improving higher-education quality, encouraging regular internal self-evaluation by institutions, informing the public about the quality of specific programs, and supporting the continued integration of the Israeli higher-education system into international academia.[18]

The CHE instructed evaluation committees to refrain from formal comparisons between institutions and clarified that the purpose of evaluation was not to rank higher-education institutions.[18] Each evaluation produces individual reports on assessed institutions as well as a general report on the status of the field under review.[18]

The Council had for years conducted system-wide reviews of particular academic fields before this formal structure was adopted. In November 2011, for instance, the Council adopted a review report covering eight political-science and international-relations departments, produced by international review committees composed mostly of experts from abroad alongside some Israeli specialists.[2]

The National Library of Israel's governance illustrates how Council funding decisions can intersect with national institutional arrangements. A report from the Committee for Changing the Status of the Jewish National Library discussed uncertainty over whether the Council could continue funding the library if it were reconstituted as a Hebrew University subsidiary, concluding that a change in corporate status would not in itself prevent continued Council funding — though it noted that interpretation of the 1958 law needed verification.[15]

Enrollment data collected by the Council document remarkable growth in Israeli higher education. From approximately 1,600 students at the time of Israel's founding, total enrollment reached about 166,000 students across all degree levels by academic year 1999–2000.[11] The Council later claimed that Israel's higher-education market had reached its enrollment limit; to assess this claim, researchers compared enrollment rates among people aged 20–22 with first-degree student rolls, finding that about 60% of non-Haredi Jews in that age group were enrolled in higher-education institutions, compared with 23% of Arabs.[19]

Gender data from the Council show that women constituted 59% of Israel's student population in academic year 2019/20, numbering 158,372 students.[20] Women made up 55% of university students and 59% of academic-college students, and the proportion had not changed significantly since 2000.[20]

A 2025 Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research statistical introduction records that, in 2014, the classification of Ariel University of Samaria changed from "college" to "university" in specified higher-education tables. The source does not explain the Council's role in the change, so the entry does not establish that it resulted from a specific CHE determination.[21]

The Council also makes appointments outside its own membership that reflect its national role: under the National Library Law, 5768–2007, it appoints a senior academic staff member — from a higher-education institution other than the Hebrew University, with expertise in the humanities — to the National Library Council.[10]

In May 2018, when Naftali Bennett served as both Education Minister and chairman of the Council, he and the university heads reached an agreement on a draft arrangement concerning academics' political activity.[22] Under the arrangement, the CHE would not compel universities to adopt a unified ethics code, and the government would not advance legislation on one.[22] Instead, institutions agreed to adopt five principles, including nondiscrimination based on political opinion and a rule prohibiting faculty from presenting personal political views as the university's position.[22]

Several significant episodes have raised questions about the Council's independence and the scope of its statutory role.

In July 2026, five members of the Council resigned following the passage of legislation that expanded gender-separated study programs in Israeli higher education.[23] The Knesset approved an amendment to the Student Rights Law by a vote of 52 to 43, expressly allowing the Council to approve separate programs for men and women in bachelor's, master's, and doctoral studies.[23] The amendment limits physical separation to classrooms in otherwise mixed institutions, requires that participation be voluntary, and states that separately run religious programs or institutions do not, in themselves, constitute discrimination.[23]

Four of the five departing members — Marcelle Machluf, Jihad El-Sana, Lia Laor, and Edit Tshuva — submitted a joint letter to Education Minister Yoav Kisch and President Isaac Herzog, describing the legislation as "unprecedented interference in the independence of the Council for Higher Education" and a fundamental change to Israel's tertiary-education system.[23] Moshe Vigdor submitted a separate resignation.[23] The four signatories warned that the amendment could lead to the exclusion of women as students, researchers, and faculty, and could harm academic standards, public trust, and the international standing of Israeli academia.[23] The Council responded by stating it would continue to act according to its authority and procedures and was committed to safeguarding the independence and professional discretion of higher-education institutions.[23]

In January 2026, a proposed bill by MK Avichai Boaron would have significantly altered the Council's governance.[24] As reported, the proposal would have made Council appointments political positions of trust, allowed the government to assume CHE powers or make decisions in its place on matters it declared nationally important, and created a new oversight committee with power to sanction institutions.[24] It would also have shifted budget-setting authority from the PBC to the education minister and the CHE plenary, reducing the PBC to a recommending role.[24] University leaders and other critics argued the proposals would threaten academic independence; the legislation was a proposed bill, not enacted law at the time of reporting.[24]

Sources also reflect a long-standing question about the practical balance of influence between the full Council and the PBC. Some accounts characterize the PBC as dominant in practice, functioning as the Council's executive arm rather than a subordinate advisory committee, with critics arguing it exercised greater influence than the Council itself.[17]