De Israelische Terreur 443

Omar Barghouti e-mailde me dit:

An exceptionally useful "tool," perhaps, in countering the proliferating multi-nation, mutli-million-dollar campaign waged by the government of Israel to "re-brand" the state as a center of excellence and ingenuity, rather than a colonizer and human rights abuser ...

The most definitive centers of excellence and ingenuity in Israel have for a long while been the weapons/"security" industry, mostly "field tested" on Palestinians, and the public relations/propaganda machine. Even the latter is lately facing significant difficulties in evolving its sometimes anachronistic methods of bullying and spreading false information that can no longer hold sway in the age of the internet.

Omar

'Welcome to the third world
By Eli Podeh

A few days ago, I returned to Israel after a short stay at Princeton University. There I learned first-hand what makes that institution one of the finest in the world. Upon my return, I was informed by the dean of the Hebrew University humanities faculty that the budget for the department I head - Islam and the Middle East - is to be cut by more than 50 percent. The chance juxtaposition of these two experiences highlighted for me the significant gap that has been created between Israel's system of higher education and the elite centers of learning in the Western world. The comparison is not always fair. Princeton, Yale and Harvard are private institutions that benefit from assets, donations and resources that enable them to maintain an unparalleled standard of excellence and academic freedom, while Israel's universities draw support primarily from the state budget. In this case, though, the comparison is an appropriate one, since the heads of the universities in this country, much like political figures, love to boast of the achievement of Israeli academe and to compare those gains with those of the most prestigious universities in the West. Every year, the Hebrew University proudly publicizes figures that place it among the top 100 universities in the world. In other words, we measure our achievements against those of the leading universities abroad, and that is how it should be. Yet, in the present rankings Israeli universities lag behind many other institutions that were once considered as inferior to our own. The problem is that the resources provided to universities in Israel, much like the decision-making process on distributing budgetary resources, position us well among third-world countries. One must consider, for example, the education budget that was approved just one month before the start of the upcoming school year. From the narrow vantage point of a department chair operating within this large, clumsy system, the picture is clear: Over the last five years, the number of positions for lecturers has declined significantly (by more than one-third). In light of this situation, one would expect that responsibility for disappearing areas of interest would be covered by untenured teachers ("external instructors"), who cost less. Yet, paradoxically, the budget cut for untenured teachers is even higher: 70 percent, over the same period. This comes at a time when the number of students has not changed. The results of these cuts have been devastating. The curriculum offered to students is significantly "thinner"; classrooms are more crowded than ever (the capacity is now at 30 students per classroom), an environment that does not allow for in-depth learning, particularly in the field of languages; there is more pressure on instructors, who need to teach longer hours; and a greater number of master's and doctoral students fill a number of administrative responsibilities in the university. Programs that are richer in content and that continue to have more to offer are usually the beneficiary of a generous donation from a wealthy Jewish philanthropist who is concerned about the future of instruction in that specific area of study (which is the case for my department). In other words, the state's bankruptcy has compelled us to be beggars. Under these conditions, it is difficult, perhaps even impossible, to churn out outstanding academic products. Especially dire is the state of young doctoral graduates, who are forced to drag themselves from one university to another, in the hope of accumulating paltry income as external teachers without the attendant benefits. Their lengthy strike during the last academic year indeed led to something of an improvement in their working conditions, yet to this day a system has not been created to implement the agreed-upon changes, while the state demands that the university heads bear the financial burden of the agreement. This means that the budget currently in place is sufficient to pay fewer teachers and that some of the external instructors will be fired as a result of the agreement that was meant to improve their lot. Beyond the objective problems, it appears that the main dilemma for higher education is that nobody really cares. The politicians are preoccupied with politics, while civil society holds a negative view of academe. In a society that sanctifies reality television programs and the pursuit of money, academia is no longer all that important. Awarding the Israel Prize on Independence Day as an expression of the state and society's esteem for academic excellence is a ritual and a remnant of a reality that no longer exists. It is no wonder that those teaching in the humanities feel a sense of frustration in light of the fact that the situation is becoming increasingly dire by the year. Though Israeli academe can still boast of "islands" of excellence, these will also be eliminated if the current trend continues. Thus, this state of affairs leaves the decision makers with two options. The first is that they recognize the saddening fact that Israeli academia, despite the potential its personnel offer, cannot compete with the global centers of educational excellence, and as a consequence suffice with the ambition of positioning our institutions among the top ones in the Middle East, something which should not be taken for granted. The other possibility is to increase the amount of resources given to Israeli centers of higher education, out of a desire to make every effort to close the gap with the prestigious universities of the United States. The eternal response to this proposal, that such a goal is impossible to meet given the security situation, is one that we ought to overcome. There is no doubt that the damage caused to the higher education system in this country in recent years is likely to be with us during the years to come, but the formation of a new government with a new prime minister is an opportunity to shake up a number of areas under its watch, among them academia.

The writer is chair of the Islamic and Middle Eastern studies department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.'

Zie: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1026635.html