The Israel Council for Higher Education

The Council for Higher Education (CHE) is a statutory corporation that was established by the Higher Education Law 5718-1958 (CHE Law) to draw up policy for the higher education system in the State. The CHE ensure the autonomy of the institutions of higher education to conduct their academic and administrative affairs, within the framework of their budgets; and (2) that at least two-thirds of the Council members will be selected because of their personal standing in the field of higher education. These two principles have served as the basis for the Council’s being for many years. The Minister of Education serves as Chairman of the Council.

The Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) is a subcommittee of the CHE that acts as an intermediary between the Government and institutions of higher education on all matters relating to budget allocations for higher education. This includes, for example (1) proposing the basic and development budget for higher education, taking into consideration the country’s social and national needs; (2) recommending a program for the development of higher education to the Government and to the Council for Higher Education; (3) apportioning and monitoring the utilization of budgets among insitutions of higher education, and more.

In 2012, the PBC under its Chairman, Professor Manuel Trajtenberg, signed with the Government of Israel an NIS 306 Million Six-Year Plan, titled "Pluralism and Equal Opportunities in Higher Education", to enhance access to higher education for Israel's Arab citizens. This first-of-its kind plan, unprecendented in scope and scale, aims to remove barriers and bridge gaps to higher education through a comprehensive strategy that spans high-school, through pre-academic training, critical first year's in the university, graduate school and faculty placements. The plan was approved in recognition that low-representation rates of Arab students in Israel's higher education instituions contributes to low-employment rates and exacerbates social and economic gaps between Arabs and Jews that hurt the country as a whole.  Many civil society and university efforts to aid Arab students were adopted as part of this plan and are being taken to national scale as a result.