Organization

The higher education system in Israel includes universities with regional colleges, non-university institutions, higher education institutes, general colleges and branches of foreign institutions that have obtained a license from the Council for Higher Education.

The Israeli universities are engaged in both teaching and research. They offer undergraduate and graduate programs in a wide range of fields : medecine, business administration, humanities, natural sciences, law, agriculture, engineering, architecture, social sciences, and more. These universities are also academically responsible for the regional colleges that offer academic courses.

The non-university institutions of higher education provide instruction at the level of bachelor’s degree in specific fields : technology, arts, teacher training, business administration and more.

The general colleges have been established recently to meet the increasing demand for higher education. They provide a broad spectrum of degree programs at the undergraduate level.

Education in Israel falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. The Council for Higher Education, an independant statutory body, whose chairman is the Minister of Education, administers the higher education system.

The Council for Higher Education has established a permanent subcommittee: the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC). Its main functions are : to advise the government on the development and the financing of higher education, to accredit institutions of higher education and allocate to them the operating budgets, and to promote efficiency and co-ordination between the higher education institutions.
The PBC funds all institutions of higher education, except for certain colleges financed entirely from non-public funds.

The financing of the universities is comprised of 60% from grants by the PBC, 20% from tuition and student fees, and the remainder comes from contributions and donations.

Accreditations
The Council for Higher Education, an independant statutory body whose chairman is the Minister of Education, has the sole power to accredit institutions of higher education and to authorize them to award academic degrees.
Nevertheless, each institution is autonomous in the conduct of their academic and administrative affairs within the framework of their approved budgets and their terms of accreditation.

Academic Year
The universities in Israel have their academic year spread over 2 sessions : Fall (October to February) and Spring (February to June). An optional summer session from July to September is provided.
The academic calender may change according to the programs, specifically the ones designed for overseas students. The One-Year Program, for example, starts in August and finishes in July.