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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On quality, excellence, competition, and distraction:
A few related texts.
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On
quality, excellence and competition, June 2008.
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The
Smoke-screen called `Encouraging Excellence', July 2008.
The
Smoke-screen called `Encouraging Excellence'
(revisited, a propos the `centers of excellence' program),
July 2010.
See also additional pragmatic considerations.
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On
quality evaluation as a basis for resource allocation, Jan 2010.
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On
the ``quality assessment'' committees of MALAG (see also
an
extended version), Dec. 2011.
A short
related rebuttal (unpublished by Haaretz, as usual...)
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On
contents-free objective measures and subjective expert opinions,
Aug. 2012.
Content-Oblivious Quality Measures
and the Control of Academia, July 2015.
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A digest
of Chaim Gans' article on Academic Freedom, Sept. 2010.
[English
version]
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Answers
to six questions regarding my views re the crisis of academia in Israel,
Sept. 2010.
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On
the concrete meaning of the general contemporary pressures on academia,
June 2011.
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The
vision of academia and the commercial nightmare,
June 2011.
[Expanded
version: Feb 2012]
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On
the State Comptroller's Report regarding the ``Special Programs''
in the Universities, May 2012.
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An answer
to the director of MALAG, Oct 2012
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In
defence of education and academia, July 2013.
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Notes
from the conference Knowledge at Our Time, January 2014.
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On
the sources of the hostility towards academia, March 2014.
(See an
additional source, July 2015.)
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On
the social institute called academia, April 2014.
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On
what counts as academnic activiety, May 2015.
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On the
academia: eight theses and three comments, May 2015.
Back to Goldreich's homepage
or to Oded's personal web-page