Essays on Academia by Oded Goldreich


The administration of higher-education has always been part of public politics. However, till the late 1980's the political powers in Israel showed little interest in the actual administration of higher-education and left it to the universities themselves. Things have changed since then, with the attack of neo-liberalism on any aspect of social life.

According to neo-liberalism, any aspect of human life is subject to the rationale of profit (aka capital-gain) and has to be administered accordingly. In my opinion, at best, this claim reflects a reversing in the roles of goals and instruments: the main aspects of human life (like education and culture) are of intrinsic value that can not and should not be subjected to the rationale of capital-gain, whereas subjecting them to this rationale results in degenerated forms of human life. Specifically, education and research can not and should not be administered as production of goods and selling of merchandise.

Material available below (all in Hebrew)


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