The Council for Higher Education on Monday deferred its decision on whether to approve the creation of 11 new colleges.

The council was expected to pass the decision, which would for the first time tip the numerical balance between state-funded universities and private colleges in favor of the latter.

However, last Tuesday the council decided that the request will be "postponed until a legal opinion is submitted and the council's discussion [on the matter] concludes." Minister of Education Yuli Tamir, who acts as the council's chair, supported the decision.

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According to Tamir, an in-depth discussion on the issue has not been held despite the potential effects the creation of new colleges may have.

She added: "Their creation raises very difficult issues. It's a process that may create more and more private colleges that gnaw at the competitiveness of state colleges. [The decision] may pass in the end, but I don't want to be pressured into it without proper debate."

During the session, Tamir presented the council with a letter written by government legal aide Joshua Shufman. Shufman wrote that the creation of the colleges "raises legal questions' and warned the council against making rash decisions before a legal opinion is submitted.

Half the college requests were submitted by foreign universities that wish to open branches in Israel. The requests were submitted in 2005 after the Economic Arrangements Law determined employees who graduated from colleges not reconigzed by the education board would not be given extra pay