News of U. of Basel Slavic

[Benjamin Rifkin]

The following letter came to me from colleagues at the University of Basel
Institute of Slavonic Studies. The institute was threatened with closure,
but Slavist colleagues rallied to the cause.  It¹s nice to celebrate a
victory once in a while, even if it is, as in this case, a small victory and
one far from complete.

Sincerely,

Ben Rifkin
President of AATSEEL

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Dear friends of the Institute of Slavonic Studies !

Since 22nd January 2004 the Institute of Slavonic Studies at the University
of Basel has been in danger of being closed by winter semester 2008/09, when
the head of the Institute, Professor Dr. Andreas Guski, retires.

The decision of the university council has caused enormeous regional,
national and international resistance. For this reason, the council was
forced to reconsider its plans and not to insist on the closure of the
institute, provided that the Faculty of Philosophy and History saves the
required amount of 1,65 million Swiss francs by other means.

The continued existence of the Institute of Slavonic Studies in Basel though
is subject to the following conditions: Firstly, the institute has to do
without one third of his present budget in order to contribute to the
economy measures of the faculty. Secondly, in future the Institute of
Slavonic Studies and the Institute of East European History will have to
organize common and so-called integrated ³East European studies². Thirdly,
we will have to cooperate with the other Swiss Institutes of Slavonic
Studies on the level of the M.A.-studies (master of arts). In this respect,
there won¹t exist an autonomous Department of Slavic Studies in future. And
fourthly, the beginners¹ coures in Slavic languages at the institute will be
substituted by three- or four-weeks courses offered free of charge by the
University of Basel itself. Because of this, a certain part of the language
teaching will take place to the University Language Centre
(Sprachenzentrum).

We would all have felt much better if the university council¹s decision of
22 January had been reversed without any such conditions. After all, the
Institute of Slavonic Studies has proved his competitiveness and efficiency
not only in the field of teaching and research, but also in the education of
the new generation of academics and should thus have had a better fortune.
The Institute is now forced to undergo a severe reduction of its budget and
staff. In the face of the amount of money to be saved by the faculty despite
all kinds of protest, our scope of action and negotiations was rather
limited. At any rate, the further existence of our subject seems to be
assured, even though in a new shape. However, the committee responsible
still has to give its official consent.

As soon as we know more, we will inform you about it on our homepage
(http://www.unibas.ch/slavi/). Until then we would like to thank all those
who have so kindly supported us morally and also materially !

 

The Institute of Slavonic Studies at the University of Basel

Sent by Sabine Doenninghaus <Sabine.Doenninghaus at unibas.ch>

*************
Benjamin Rifkin
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Professor and Chair, Slavic Dept.
1432 Van Hise, 1220 Linden Dr.
Madison, WI 53706 USA
(608) 262-1623; Fax (608) 265-2814
http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/slavic

Director, Title VI Center for Russia, E. Europe & Central Asia (CREECA)
210 Ingraham Hall, 1550 Observatory Dr.
Madison, WI 53706 USA
(608) 262-3379; Fax (608) 265-3602
http://www.wisc.edu/creeca

 




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