_other.jpg "Photo: Ron Peled")
Hebrew University. New school at Mt. Scopus campus
Photo: Ron Peled
Hebrew University gets major donation
Private fund gives Faculty of Humanities NIS 100 million aimed at recruiting outstanding researchers, building new school for advanced studies
After a decade of drastic cuts in the Faculty of Humanities, Hebrew University last week received a NIS 100 million (about $28 million) donation aimed at recruiting outstanding researchers from Israel and abroad and set up a new school for advanced humanities studies which will be inaugurated soon at the Mount Scopus Campus.
In addition, every year the university will get a generous donation of about NIS 8 million ($2.25 million), with no time limit, aimed at encouraging humanities research and returning outstanding researchers who went abroad.
The first stage will see some NIS 70 million ($20 million) allotted to the construction of a building for advanced doctorate studies.
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The donation was given by the Mandel Foundation, whose leaders have decided to try to stop the decline in the status of Humanities.
"This is one of the most generous donations given in recent years to encourage Humanities studies in the world. It serves as proof that the academic world does not just belong to biotechnology and exact sciences, but that there is also room for the creativity and originality of the Humanities," said Hebrew University President Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson.
"This donation is a milestone and a refreshing turning point in the return of Humanities to its appropriate status in higher education," he added.
According to Ben-Sasson, Hebrew University will use this initiative to set up a Humanities incubator to nurture breakthrough ideas, which will enrich all of mankind and the intellectual leadership in the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
"We are now at the end of the 'lost decade', in which Humanities suffered cutbacks, but there is no doubt that such a donation can move this field forward, as more than any other discipline – Humanities emphasizes critical thinking and has laid the foundation for comprehensive education.
"We must remember that Galileo Galilei did not study in a school of engineering, and fortunately, big companies like Intel and Elbit understand the advantages of outstanding Humanities students in original and creative thinking."
Morton Mandel, chairman and CEO of the Mandel Foundation said, "Our investment in the Hebrew University's Faculty of Humanities is an investment in the future of the State of Israel and the future of its citizens.
"The study halls at the Faculty of Humanities are the meeting point for the ancient and modern, a place where history touches the innovative and where ideas and new ways of thinking are born."
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