At a meeting last week dealing with the budgets of Israel's
institutions of higher learning, the Knesset Finance
Committee raised a demand for an immediate investigation of
double budgets granted by government ministries -- mainly the
Ministry of Education -- to institutions of higher learning
such as universities. The demand was made by UTJ
representatives MKs Rabbi Moshe Gafni and Rabbi Meir Porush,
as well as by Limor Livnat of the Likud. Professor Nechemiah
Lev Tzion, chairman of the Council for Higher Education, also
took part at the meeting.
During the discussion, it became clear that the institutions
of higher learning receive double budgets: one source of
funding is from the Committee for Budgetary Planning which
allocates university budgets, as well as additional
government ministries. The Education Ministry, for example,
granted the Federation for the Development of Academic
Education NIS 35 million last year, in addition to the Hebrew
University's regular budget.
At the meeting, it also became clear that although the number
of students studying in yeshivos is about equal to the number
of university students, there are tremendous budgetary
discrepancies. The budget for the institutions for higher
learning is NIS 5 billion, plus an additional NIS 245
million, while the budget for the yeshivos is barely a tenth
of that: only NIS 600 million.
At the meeting, Rabbi Gafni said: "Most of the large expenses
of the institutions of higher learning are for high salaries
earmarked for teachers and lecturers, which stem from
extravagant benefits received by top-ranking university
professors, including sabbaticals abroad, etc." He then
turned to Professor Lev Tzion, chairman of the Council for
Higher Education, and demanded a disclosure of the pay scales
of the universities' top-ranking lecturers.
Rabbi Gafni also complained about the tremendous
discrimination on the issue of development budgets for
universities and yeshivos. He stressed that while the
universities enjoy a very generous budget of NIS 118 for
development, the yeshivos have no development budgets
whatsoever.
Rabbi Gafni and Rabbi Porush also sent a letter to the
Attorney General, Eliakim Rubinstein, stating that a number
of months ago he issued a policy forbidding dual-subsidies
for Torah institutions. They asked him to maintain the same
policy towards all institutions for higher education.
