Council for Higher Education

The Council for Higher Education in Israel is the licensing and accrediting authority for higher education in Israel. It is an independent statutory body composed of 19-25 members appointed by the President of the state, on the recommendation of the government.

The Council is empowered by law to advise the government on the development and financing of higher education and scientific research. Its Planning and Budgeting Committee (a permanent subcommittee) submits the ordinary and development budgets for higher education to the government; allocates the global approved ordinary and development budgets provided by the government; proposes plans for the development of higher education, including financing; and ensures that the budgets of the institutions are balanced. In addition, it encourages efficiency in higher education institutions and coordinates between them.

Its web site is at http://www.che.org.il/english.aspx

More details

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_for_Higher_Education_in_Israel)

The Council for Higher Education in Israel (Hebrew: המועצה להשכלה גבוהה) was established in 1958, as the superior body, which inspects the functioning of universities and colleges within the boundaries of the State of Israel. It is the only organization with the authority of educational accreditation.

The head of the council is always the Education Minister of Israel, and at least two-thirds of its members are known academic personnel.

The total budget of the council, which is sponsored by the State, is 6 billion Shekels per year. Among its duties, the council is responsible for the establishment of new universities and the expansion of existing universities. Moreover, the council is supposed to transfer the annual budget of the State to the public universities, and promote a continuous scientific and philosophical research. The council is forbidden to restrict the freedoms of opinion and conscience in the educational material, and also not allowed to intervene in appointing the academic staff, or the way the staff teaches the material.

The most important body of the council is the committee for budget and planning.

In December 2005 new legislation came into force, when the Knesset decided that there should be two student representatives in the council, instead of one. One will represent the universities students and the other the colleges' students.

Quality Assessment Unit

In June 2003 the Council for Higher Education decided to establish a system for quality assessment of Israeli higher education with the aim of:

1. Improving the quality of higher education in Israel.
2. Strengthening the awareness to the quality assessment process and developing internal mechanisms in the institutions of higher education, that would continually evaluate the academic quality.
3. Ensuring the continual integration of the Israeli academic system within the global academic systems.

The four stages in the model for quality assessment determined by the Council for Higher Education are:

1. A self-evaluation process at the institutions being examined, accompanied by the preparation of a self-study report
2. Quality assessment of the study program at the institutions being examined, carried out by an external committee appointed by the CHE, whose work will be based on the self-evaluation reports and visits to the institutions. , At the conclusion of the evaluation process, the committee will present a summary report to the CHE.
3. Discussion and decision-making by the CHE.
4. Publication of the CHE's decisions.

The Council also decided that for the first years of its operation the Quality Assessment Unit will only evaluate study-programmess and disciplines, postponing assessment at the institutional level until a future date.

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