HAARETZ: Israel Greenlights First Phd Program at Distance-learning University
The Open University, an Israeli distance-learning institution, has been cleared to award PhDs in education starting next year.
Israel’s Council for Higher Education endorsed on Tuesday an expert panel’s recommendation to let the university open its first doctorate track: a program focused on technology and learning systems.
Upon the appointment of the expert panel, the council said the field carries “great importance in general, and particularly so in the age of COVID.”
The Open University does not impose admission requirements on undergraduate students, allowing anyone to enroll in its courses, and it permits students to learn at their own pace with no need to physically be on campus. Founded in 1974, it has been certified to grant bachelor’s degrees since 1980 and master’s degrees since 1997.
This is the second time in the past four years that the higher education council has authorized an academic institution to grant PhDs. In 2018 it authorized Reichman University, then called Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC), to become a university and open a doctorate track in law.
