A Council of University Presidents (CUP) document calls for universities to institute personal employment contracts in order to employ a limited number of highly sought-after professors at above-standard salaries.

The committee comprises all seven of Israel's university presidents.

The document, which was delivered last week to the Shochat Committee on higher education reform, proposes a number of other changes to the universities' system of employment and compensation, foremost among them increased incentives for outstanding researchers and an "absorption package" for researchers working abroad.

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However, university faculty associations object to personal contracts, even if used only in rare instances, as the university presidents are proposing.

According to the chairman of the Coordinating Council of Faculty Associations, Professor Zvi Hacohen, "introducing personal contracts is like taking a stone out of a dam. It is clear that it will start a small trickle, an employment method for a small number of 'stars,' that will eventually expand."

CUP sources say they believe the Shochat Committee will accept their proposal. The committee chairman, former finance minister Avraham Shochat, refused to comment on the document Monday, saying the committee was discussing a number of proposals and had yet to make a decision.

When the committee began its work in January, however, Shochat did not rule out signing professors to personal contracts on a limited scale and said he supported differential compensation for outstanding professors.

Shochat said earlier this week that, based on the agreement between the Prime Minister's Office and the finance and education ministries, any recommendation that "affects the senior faculty's pay would require the consent of all sides, based on the collective agreements in accordance with labor law."

Shochat also promised that the institution of tenure would not be canceled, nor would there be differential pay based on academic fields.

According to CUP chairman Professor Moshe Kaveh, the use of personal contracts is designed to "solve the current difficulty in recruiting good professors in fields like accounting, economics and finance." Kaveh said Israeli universities must compete for faculty on a global level and said the starting salary for an Israeli university researcher was NIS 7-8,000 a month (approximately $20,000 annually), compared to up to $100-150,000 a year in the U.S.

However, Hacohen says that personal contracts are a cardinal issue for faculty associations, and that "in order to solve a problem that affects 1 percent of the faculty, you don't destroy the other 99 percent."

The document is part of a comprehensive plan presented to the Shochat Committee, which is intended to increase the higher education budget, recruit young researchers and encourage excellence.

Kaveh expects the higher education budget to be increased by NIS 2.2 billion: NIS 1.5 billion of that is to come from the government, and NIS 700-800,000 from higher tuition. The CUP believes that an additional NIS 180 million will be needed to fund the new faculty salaries.

The document also proposes granting bonuses to full professors excelling in research. According to the document, faculty members who reach the level of full professor have no additional advancement options, leading to a situation in which talented professors in their prime are snatched up by foreign universities.

The CUP also proposes that financial bonuses given to faculty who receive external research grants be increased, and that cooperation between researchers in industrial fields and industry be encouraged.

The document suggests that young Israeli academics living abroad be offered an "absorption package," meant to encourage them to return to Israel. The package would include rent stipends, higher salaries and also increased funding for trips abroad for conferences and educational programs.