Council for Higher Education in Israel

The first attempt at establishing a governing body for Israeli higher education was in 1952, in a bill presented by Yaakov Dori, which was not supported in the Knesset's education committee on the grounds that the proposed structure would impede academic freedom. A second attempt in 1955 similarly failed. In 1956 the government appointed a special committee, which was supposed to advise the government how to act, in order to assure that no ruling political party will be able to influence the academic institutions. The Governor of the Bank of Israel, David Horowitz, was the head of the committee, which advised the government to appoint a special apolitical and academic council which would supervise the functioning of the academic institutions and their relations with the government. Soon after, in 1958, the Knesset passed the Council for Higher Education Law, which established the organisation. The council was finally established in 1958. At that time most of the academic institutions were dependent on the governmental budget, and there was concern among academics that the government would politically influence higher education institutions.

In December 2005, new legislation came into force, which enlarged the student representation at the council from one to two members, one for university students and one for college students.