Last update - 01:24 04/01/2008
Academics warn 'entire fields of knowledge in danger of disappearing'
By Tamara Traubmann
African studies are disappearing from the Israeli academic map. The last academic institution in the country to have such a department, Tel Aviv University, closed it recently. This is but an extreme example of the dwindling of subjects and fields of knowledge at Israeli universities.
Over the past decade, other areas of studies in the arts and sciences have been hit hard. In some cases departments were closed down; in others, the faculty shrank, and with it the array of subjects researched.
While some institutions say they must adapt to meet student demands, many lecturers warn that the tendency to concentrate on lucrative subjects will lead to the disappearance of much knowledge and the creation of a spiritually depleted society.
In a 2006 report, the National Academy of Sciences warned that "the budgetary plight and lack of planning might cause entire fields of knowledge to disappear." African studies dying-out was cited as a particularly troubling case in point. Hebrew University and TAU had long nurtured African studies departments, winning international acclaim. But Jerusalem's program has been "frozen," and Tel Aviv's was sacrificed to the university's economic efficiency plan.
"African studies are a hard case," says Prof. Naomi Chazan, among the most prominent researchers in this field, "but symptomatic of the humanities as a whole."
Dr. Galia Tzabar, who formerly chaired the program at TAU, says Africa is perceived as ravaged by bloody civil wars; a place nobody cares about. "But precisely because of that, studying Africa is wonderful training for a critical and original view of the world. Many of Israel's residents come from Africa."
Chazan added that in the past two years Africa has experienced impressive economic growth: "I have no doubt that it will be the continent of the 21st century. Without the academic infrastructure, Israel will not be prepared for that."
Despite the contentions of worried scholars about fields of study disappearing, the overall number of students in the humanities has not changed much since the start of this decade. Several departments have even seen an increase in enrollment. In East Asian studies, for example, professors who had become accustomed to lecturing to empty classrooms have become popular in recent years. However, this increase cannot be ascribed simply to students' desire to broaden their horizons, but rather to business people's desire to forge economic and military ties with China.
But even when student demand is there, a department's variety of course offerings sometimes diminishes. For example, the Hebrew University's philosophy department offers 70 percent less electives than in 2004. Furious students sent a petition on the matter to the university's administration.
Musicology studies in Jerusalem also suffered greatly in recent years. "In the '80s there were three musicology departments in Israel - at Bar Ilan, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv," says Prof. Ruth HaCohen (Pinczower), who chaired the department at the Hebrew University. "They had some 30 faculty members. Now there remain between 10 and 12 faculty members at all three institutions together. At Tel Aviv the department was closed down, and its lecturers integrated problematically with the music academy. The field is drying up and dried out."
The reduction in faculty members is most glaring in the humanities, where their number at all universities together has dropped from 1,065 in 1999 to 917 in 2006 - a drop of 14 percent.
The more worrisome figure is a decrease of 30 percent in the number of those ranked "lecturer," the entry level for senior academic staff, which points the way to a far more drastic drop in the years to come.
Some pin the slimmer course offerings on changing students tastes.
"Today's Israeli student is much more practical," says Prof. Shlomo Grossman, chair of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education. "He chooses subjects that are destined to produce income, and the humanities obviously do not guarantee him an income."
In areas that have no direct use outside of academia, it used to be possible to advance to graduate work and develop an academic career. But nowadays humanities departments have few openings for faculty members, so that option barely exists anymore.