Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi together with reservists, Kherbat Ahzaa, Gaza.
December 31, 2023/IDF spokesman
The heads of the universities informed the education committee of the Knesset this morning (Sunday) that they will not be able to allow a provision of the law, according to which they will have to grant exemptions and passing grades automatically to students serving in the reserves.
The letter in which they stated this was sent in preparation for the discussion of the second and third reading of the bill dealing with aid to these students.
The letter that follows an amendment to the text of the bill, to which a table was added in recent days that should oblige higher education institutions in the first legislation to grant exemptions, passing grades and academic credits for about a third of the first degree and about half of the second degree.
"If the law is enacted as it is, its implementation means that the Knesset, and not the universities, will determine what a student needs to study in order to be entitled to an academic degree," the letter states.
"This is not only a violation of the autonomy of the institutions, which is enshrined in the law of the Council for Higher Education, but a fatal violation of the quality of the academic system through the obligation by law of the academics to act contrary to the dictates of their conscience and their professional responsibility."
"If the law is enacted, it will be the Knesset that will determine who is entitled to an academic degree."
The opening of the school year last December/Reuven Castro
"We hereby call on the Minister of Education and the Israeli Knesset to trust the research universities in Israel and to preserve their independence at all costs. Interference in the core of the academic system with sweeping and arbitrary determinations and the trampling of academic autonomy and the responsibility that comes with it, constitute a real danger to higher education and the foundations of Israeli democracy."
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