Project to elevate learning in Jewish community to university status

14 July 2004

- Professor David-Hillel Ruben and Birkbeck, University of London join forces

A ground-breaking project to identify learning activities in the Jewish community suitable for higher education status has been launched by Birkbeck, University of London and Professor David-Hillel Ruben - a distinguished philosopher newly appointed to the academic staff at Birkbeck.

Birkbeck, the leading specialist in part-time higher education by evening study, has appointed Professor Ruben to lead the project. "We are working to identify various learning activities within this community that fit well with Birkbeck's mission to provide quality higher education in the evenings for people with daytime commitments," says Professor Ruben.

"There are already informal educational programmes in synagogues, some of which could easily be included within the existing Birkbeck framework. But other community learning is innovative from the point of view of higher education. For example, it is standard in the Jewish community for people to study the Talmud (Jewish law) in the evenings outside work. This learning is intense and rigorous, usually conducted in a partner-style educational process, with pairs of people debating texts and learning how to frame an argument. It has long been my view that Talmud study ought to have university status - without in any way disturbing the existing content or style of that traditional learning. The trick will be to preserve this traditional learning in the way it has developed over time within the community, and at the same time insure that it meets the highest possible academic standards of university education."

With existing Talmud teachers becoming sessional lecturers for Birkbeck, Talmud students will be able to study these classes as Birkbeck course unit modules, which can lead to a higher education qualification. For those Talmud students already at a university, particularly those at other colleges of the University of London, it may become possible for them to import this accredited module into their degree study. Other non-degree students can use the module as a springboard onto a certificate programme.

Two Birkbeck courses in Jewish law have already been approved and will start in the next academic session, and discussions are continuing with other Jewish groups to extend the programme.

Dr Gwen Griffith-Dickson, Director of Birkbeck's Centre for the Study of Religion, Ideas and Society, says: "Professor Ruben is the lynchpin between Birkbeck and the Jewish community, and we are very pleased to welcome such an esteemed figure to the college. This project is very much in line with the new thinking in higher education about active learning, in that it encourages direct engagement with the texts and moves away from passive lectures and private reading."

Professor David Latchman, Master of Birkbeck says. "This initiative is part of our policy to extend Birkbeck's mission and provide educational opportunity in a growing range of subjects. I am delighted that we have such a distinguished scholar as Professor David-Hillel Ruben leading the project and welcome him to Birkbeck and its Faculty of Continuing Education."

This is an extraordinary project," adds Professor Ruben. "It's extremely useful for the students, the Jewish community and educational partners, and for Birkbeck. I understand both how the Jewish community and the UK higher education sector operate, so this project is the perfect way to marry two worlds that are very important to me."

Religious Studies information:
Contact Vicky Mohammed on 020 7631 6691 or email religious@fce.bbk.ac.uk

Professor David-Hillel Ruben:

In 1999 Professor David-Hillel Ruben became Director of NYU in London (an affiliate of New York University) and has been Professor of Philosophy at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London since 2000. He was Director of the London School of Jewish Studies, formerly Jews' College, (1998-2000) and spent fourteen years at the London School of Economics, University of London, and served as Head of its Philosophy Department.

With a PhD in Philosophy from Harvard University (1966-70), Professor Ruben's latest book is Action and Its Explanation (Oxford University Press, 2003).


Centre for the Study of Religion, Ideas and Society

The Centre seeks to promote a new way of approaching the study of religion which bridges its intellectual, social and faith-based contexts. Recognizing that religion is one of the major influences on thought and culture within human societies its members are committed to scholarly and interdisciplinary research within the academic community, and also to an openness which recognizes the importance of religious difference and the strength of challenges to religious ideas from secular culture and society. In addition to its research-based activities, the Centre will eventually offer degree courses at every level. It will also develop educational contacts and provision outside the academic sphere.

The Centre aims to create a committed academic community of scholars devoted to the study of different faiths in a multidisciplinary and collaborative way. Four major themes will be developed: religion in its myriad relations to culture, society and politics; religious traditions of systematic reflection; the history of religious ideas, and the history of ideas in relation to religion and the study of faith communities, their interfaith networking and their wider social and civic activities

Because these areas of interest are shared between the different religions, it makes it possible for scholars not only to have expertise in a single faith, but also to co-operate across the different traditions to create new thinking in a pluralist context.

The Centre has a dual core: on the one hand, research excellence, on the other, outreach to the community, in particular that of Greater London. Birkbeck's London location makes it well-placed both nationally and internationally to examine multi-cultural, multi-faith issues, and to communicate with those who are working daily in such situations and attempting to understand them.

Birkbeck's Centre for the Study of Religion, Ideas and Society: http://www.ris.bbk.ac.uk/

Contact:
Catherine Doherty, Media and Publicity Officer
External Relations, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HX
Tel 020 7631 6569
Fax 020 7631 6351
Email c.doherty@bbk.ac.uk

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