The Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC)

The Planning and Budgeting Committee – This committee is a standing sub-committee of the Council for Higher Education which was established by the Government in its decision No. 666 on June 6, 1977. The PBC is composed of seven members including its chairman; five of them are people with senior academic status in higher education from different fields, and two additional members who represent the public are from the fields of business and economics. Members of the PBC are nominated by the Minister of Education on behalf of the Chairman and serve, with the approval of the Council in a secret ballot, for a period of three years, with the possibility of extending that period by an additional three years.

The administrative, planning and budgeting duties of the PBC are carried out with the aid of the administrative body of the Council for Higher Education.

Members of the PBC today are: Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg - Chairman, Mr. Aharon Beit-Halahmi, Prof. Moshe Mandelbaum, Mr. Shmuel Slavin, Prof. Shimon Yankielowicz, and Prof. Zippora Shakked.

The functions of the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) as delegated to it by the Council for Higher Education and by government mandate are:

1. To be an independent body, which will serve as an intermediary between the Government and the national institutions on the one hand and the institutions of higher education on the other in all matters relating to the budget for higher education;

2. To prepare the regular budget and the development budget proposals for higher education, taking into consideration the country’s social and national needs, while safe-guarding academic freedom and with due diligence for the need for advancing research and education;

3. To have the exclusive right to apportion the approved higher education budget among the institutions of higher education.

4. To make a recommendation to the Government and to the Council for Higher Education for a program for the development of higher education, including its financing;

5. To promote efficiency through cooperation among the institutions of higher education;

6. To follow-up the use of budgets in order to prevent deficits and over spending;

7. To render an opinion to the Council for Higher Education regarding the establishment of every new institution or new unit in an accredited institution which requires substantial financing.