UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20202
____________________________________
In the Matter of Docket No. 99-47-EA
Bruce Rappaport
Faculty of Medicine,
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Emergency
Action
Show Cause Proceeding
Respondent.
____________________________________
Appearances: Rafael
Beyar, M.D., D.Sc., Dean, Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine,
Technion-Israel
Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, for Respondent.
Howard D. Sorensen, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, United States
Department of Education, Washington, D.C., for Student Financial
Assistance Programs.
Before: Frank
K. Krueger, Jr., Administrative Judge
DECISION
Respondent is a medical school located in Haifa, Israel, which enrolls
a small number of students from the United States who have, in the past,
received student loans under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program
authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. U.S. students enrolled in a medical school
located in a foreign country may receive FFELs if the medical school meets the
accreditation standards of the country in which the school is located and those
standards are comparable to the accreditation standards applied to medical
schools in the United States, or the foreign medical school is accredited by a
nationally recognized accrediting agency approved by the U.S. Secretary of
Education.
The determination as to whether the accreditation standards for a
foreign country are comparable with those applied to medical schools in the
United States is made by the National Committee on Foreign Medical Education
and Accreditation (NCFMEA), a panel of experts appointed by the Secretary of
Education. See 34 C.F.R. ' 600.55(a)(4)(i) (1998). On October 8, 1998, NCFMEA determined that
Israeli accreditation standards for medical schools are not comparable to U.S.
standards. As a result of the NCFMEA
determination, U.S. students enrolling as new students in Israeli medical
schools became ineligible for FFELs unless their medical school was accredited
by an agency approved by the U.S. Secretary of Education. U.S. students who were enrolled in Israeli
medical schools at the time of the NCFMEA decision and who received an FFEL
before the decision was made continued to be eligible for FFELs for the
academic year then in effect and for the succeeding academic year. This information was transmitted to the
Israeli Council for Higher Education by letter from the U.S. Secretary of
Education dated December 4, 1998.
By letter dated July 8, 1999, to the President of Technion-Israel
Institute of Technology, SFAP notified Respondent that it was initiating an
administrative proceeding to terminate the school=s eligibility to participate in the FFEL program based on the NCFMEA
determination; the letter also notified Respondent that the U.S. Department of
Education was imposing an Emergency Action, which had the effect of immediately
withdrawing the authority of the school to award FFELs to newly enrolled U.S.
students. The school requested an
opportunity to show cause why the Emergency Action should be revoked. On August 9, 1999, I was appointed the show
cause official. On August 12, 1999, a
hearing was held in Washington, DC, to consider the Respondent=s arguments.
Under the regulations, 34 C.F.R. ' 668.83 (c)(1) (1998), an Emergency Action may be imposed if SFAP
receives reliable information that a participating school is not meeting the
standards for participation in the Title IV programs, determines that immediate
action is necessary to prevent a misuse of Title IV funds, and determines that
the likelihood of loss outweighs the importance of waiting for the completion
of a termination proceeding. In a show
cause proceeding initiated to challenge an Emergency Action, the school has the
burden of proof. In a termination
proceeding, SFAP has the burden of proof.
An Emergency Action expires within thirty days unless SFAP also
initiates a termination proceeding.
Under 34 C.F.R. ' 668.83 (e)(4) (1998), the show cause official may revoke or modify the
Emergency Action because the grounds stated in the notice of the Emergency
Action no longer exist, the grounds stated will not cause a misuse of Title IV
funds, or the institution in question will use procedures that will reliably
eliminate the risk of loss of funds from the misuse described in the notice.
At the hearing, Respondent argued that the Emergency Action should be
lifted since it was confident that NCFMEA will determine at its next meeting
that Israel has adopted revised accreditation standards comparable with those
in the U.S. The area of difference
revolves around the failure of Israeli standards to require a periodic review
of medical schools by an outside authority.
According to representations made by Dr. Rafael Beyar, Respondent=s Dean, the Israeli Council for Higher
Education, the appropriate governing body for medical education in Israel, has
adopted revised standards that should correct the Aviolation,@ and that the revised standards have been agreed to by all of the
medical schools in Israel. The NCFMEA
meets on September 17, 1999, and will consider the revised Israeli
standards. According to Dr. Beyar,
there are approximately ten students scheduled to enroll in the medical program
this fall who are clearly affected by the NCFMEA determination. There are ten additional students who are
already enrolled in Respondent=s medical program who may be affected, since U.S. students spend their
first year studying at another institution and it is not clear whether these
students will qualify as students who already have FFELs at the Respondent
medical school.
SFAP had reliable information that Respondent was not in compliance
with the Title IV standards since NCFMEA determined that Israel did not have
comparable standards with the U.S. SFAP
decided that immediate action was necessary since Respondent=s students were no longer eligible for FFELs,
and that the likelihood of loss from improperly awarded FFELs outweighed the
importance of awaiting the outcome of the termination proceeding. I agree that SFAP complied with the legal
standards and that, short of an agreement from the school not to award any
additional FFELs, the risk of loss outweighs the importance of awaiting the
outcome of the termination proceeding since there is no doubt that the students
are ineligible. The law is clear and
unambiguous, once NCFMEA made its determination, the students became
ineligible. If the termination
proceeding were held today, I would have to terminate Respondent=s participation in the FFEL program. Since the grounds stated in the notice still
exist, and I cannot determine that those grounds will not cause a Amisuse@ of FFEL funds, the Emergency Action must remain in place.
As noted above, there are few students affected by this decision. SFAP has agreed to stay the termination
proceeding until after NCFMEA makes a determination concerning the revised
Israeli standards at its September meeting.
If those standards are found to be comparable with those in the U.S.,
SFAP will lift the Emergency Action and dismiss the termination
proceeding. At that point, Respondent
will be free to award the FFELs to its newly enrolled U.S. students. In addition, during the hearing, counsel for
SFAP agreed to look into whether students about to enter their second year of
the medical program, but who spent their first year at another institution,
could be considered as continuing students, rather than newly enrolled
students, and thus eligible for FFELs notwithstanding the Emergency
Action. Finally, it should be noted
that, even if I were to revoke the Emergency Action, U.S. students would still
remain ineligible for FFELs as a result of the NCFMEA determination.
For the reasons provided above, I decline to revoke or modify the
Emergency Action.
_________________________________
Frank K. Krueger, Jr.
Administrative Judge
Dated: August 25, 1999
SERVICE
A copy of the attached decision was sent by
mail to the following:
Rafael Beyar, M.D., D.Sc., Dean
Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
Technion City
Haifa 32000
Israel
Howard D. Sorensen, Esq.
Office of the General Counsel
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave., SW
Washington, D.C. 20202-2110
