The Council for Higher Education (CHE) unanimously approved a request to allow the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya to begin awarding doctoral degrees in law, the Council said Tuesday. The IDC will now present its program of study to an international tribunal, which will review course material and decide whether the program meets academic standards.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett praised the decision and congratulated the Center, calling it a “holiday for Israeli academia.”
“I congratulate the Council for Higher Education for approving, for the first time in the country’s history, a private institution to undertake academic research. This means that competetion in academia will be expanded, without costing Israeli tax payers one additional shekel,” Bennett said.
The Council’s approval was the culmination of a years-long process and followed on a 2014 decision to allow academic institutions that were not authorised at that time to award doctorates to apply for the right to open doctoral programs, on condition the they met criteria set by the Council. The IDC was the first non-university body to gain approval.
But the country’s universities opposed the move, saying allowing non-universities to award doctorates would discredit the distinction between research universities and educational colleges.
“A doctorate does not gain expression simply because the individual holds a Ph.D,” said the Committee of University Presidents in a statement. “Rather, they gain expression by virtue of deep research… An institution that grants doctorates must be an institution with long-standing research accomplishments in a variety of subjects. Otherwise, it’s a degree only for the purpose of having a degree, that people will receive only to pump up their egos or salaries – while others who are doing deep, competitive research will on the highest levels.
“It is a shame that this process at the college will cheapen the value of a doctorate,’ the Committee added.
IDC officials rejected the criticism out of hand, calling the country’s established universities a “cartel” that felt threatened by opening up the education market.
“For eight years the university cartel has prevented any discussion of the IDC’s request to be allowed to award doctorates,” said IDC President Uriel Reichman. “It is only thanks to the leadership and determination of the head of the Council for Higher Education, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who was not afraid to stand up to the universities, that this decision was made.
“The IDC thanks Minister Bennett for his determination and unbending commitment upholding the principles of academic honesty, as well as the professional leadership of the Council of Higher Education Prof. Yaffa Zilbershlatz and Prof. Idan Pearlman,” Reichman said.