Ministry of Higher Education and the Water Economy will be closed

The Ministry of Higher Education and the Water Economy will be closed and its areas of responsibility will return to the Ministries of Education and Energy, the government decided today (Monday).
The Ministry of Higher Education and Water was established in 2020 without justification - and the then Minister of Construction and Housing, Zeev Elkin, was appointed Minister. In addition to water and higher education, the ministry also took responsibility for non-formal education, which includes youth movements and community centers. The ministry also had confidence in the budget for promoting projects in the field of Jewish culture at a cost of about NIS 200 million.
During the ministry's activities, doubts arose about its powers - since the law stipulates that the Council for Higher Education (MLAG) is responsible for managing the higher education system, and that the chairman of the Council for Higher Education is actually the Minister of Education.
During his short tenure as Minister of Higher Education and Water, Elkin announced his desire to establish a new university in the Galilee. He also got into a conflict with the universities - after trying to fire the acting director general of the MLAG, Michal Neumann, who has been in office since December 2019, and following his attempt to appoint the rector of Ariel University, Prof. Michael Zingard, to be a member of the Planning and Budgeting Committee. A) of the MLAG. He eventually withdrew from Neumann's dismissal, and appointed Prof. Shiri Navon-Venice of Ariel University as his deputy.
In addition, the government approved the abolition of the National Digital Ministry, strategic issues and the Ministry of Community Strengthening and Promotion, and their transfer of activities to existing government ministries. The decision to abolish these was made in time, with the formation of the government. The abolition of the Ministry of Higher Education was carried out at a later stage by the Minister of Education, Yifat Shasha-Bitton. The powers of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and its budget will be transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The new offices that were abolished were never budgeted, as the state budget was not passed, but they were given powers from other ministries, which allowed them to influence how the budget was distributed and set priorities. In addition, each of the new offices received new standards with a budget of millions of shekels per office.
For example, the Ministry of Strengthening and Community Promotion, established in 2020 for MK Orly Levy Abacis, dealt with areas that were previously of the Ministry of Homeland Security, while the National Digital Ministry established that year under former Minister Dudi Amsalem was in charge of the Israel Companies Authority. Digital and the Government ICT Authority.