By Arthur Krystal. A misleading headline was affixed to the print version of my essay ("Neuroscience Is Ruining the Humanities," The Chronicle Review, November 28). I do not believe, nor does my essay reflect the belief, that the neurosciences are, as the title contends, "ruining" the humanities. My essay examines the postmodern agenda as it evolved during the 1970s and 80s, and how aspects of it made the humanities more susceptible to some of the guiding principles of neuroscience and evolutionary biology as they are structured today. More...
Art can enhance humanity’s survival
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Art can enhance humanity’s survival
Ollivier Dyens, University Affairs, 2014/12/11
What we need to understand about art, I think, is what is reflected in this article: "we are enticed by forms, shapes, rhythms and movements that are useful to our existence.... (art) acts as a device for creating effective metaphors, analogies, play on words, and allegories – mechanisms that draw unusual elements together to produce innovative shapes, dynamics and phenomena." We have artificially separated language and numbers from other forms of expression, and relegated the latter to the realm of beauty and pleasure, without understanding the need to express ourselves in different ways at different times. More...
New grant to help low-income liberal arts students land paid internships
By Stefanie Botelho. The University of Wisconsin-Madison's College of Letters & Science has received a $150,000 Career Ready Internship Grant from the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation to help students with financial need reap the educational and career-boosting benefits of internships. More...
Clash in the Stacks
What’s Lost, and Maybe Gained, in the Collapse of ‘The New Republic’
By Yoni Appelbaum. The disaster at The New Republic should concern all who love the arts and humanities, or who aspire to share scholarship with a general public. The abrupt resignations last week of the editors Franklin Foer and Leon Wieseltier roiled the world of journalism. More than 20 of the magazine’s contributing editors also resigned, including the academics Alan Taylor, Helen Vendler, Sean Wilentz, Anthony Grafton, and John McWhorter. More...
University Groups Pledge Aid for Humanities, Social Sciences
The Association of American Universities last week joined with similar groups from other parts of the world to issue the Leiden Statement, pledging support for the humanities and social sciences. The statement says that the members of these associations will:
Ensure that social science and humanities disciplines continue to receive necessary support. Read more...
The 2014-2015 Times Higher Education World University Rankings' Arts and Humanities table
The 2014-2015 Times Higher Education World University Rankings' Arts and Humanities table judges world class universities across all of their core missions - teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The ranking of the world's top 100 universities for arts and humanities employs 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available, which are trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings’ Arts and Humanities subject ranking includes a wide range of narrower subject areas, defined by our data partners Thomson Reuters.
The full list of Arts and Humanities subjects used to create this ranking is:
- Archaeology
- Architecture
- Art
- Asian Studies
- Classics
- Cultural Studies
- Dance
- Film, Radio & Television
- History
- History & Philosophy of Science
- Languages, Philology and Linguistic Studies
- Literature
- Music
- Philosophy
- Theatre
- Theology & Religion
- Arts & Humanities - Other topics.
Sciences humaines : quand l'enseignement supérieur touche le fond
Par . L'université française faisait valoir l'absence de classement international pertinent en sciences humaines. Mais cette lacune est désormaiscomblée, et la triste réalité apparaît: elle est très mal classée. par François Garçon, université Panthéo-Sorbonne.
L'extrême prudence est désormais requise pour qui se risque à critiquer le fonctionnement des institutions françaises et les insuffisances (managériales, intellectuelles, morales) de ceux qui sont aux manettes. Toute dénonciation se voit opposer le joker: French Bashing ! Du coup, la méthode Coué prospère. Nous sommes excellents ! Nous sommes les meilleurs. Les autres ne nous comprennent pas ou, pervers, envient notre génie...
Le Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2014-2015 vient de publier son classement des 100 premières universités pour « Arts & Humanities, 2014-2015 ». Il n'était que temps. S'en est-il fini du French Bashing ? Euh, pas vraiment. En fait, avec les Arts & Humanities, domaines où le monde entier envierait la France, on touche au fond. Nommons-le, le French Burying. Soit les cent premiers établissements mondiaux dans les Arts & Humanities. Il s'y trouve logiquement 35 universités américaines et 20 britanniques. Domination anglo-saxonne que conforte encore 8 établissements australiens et une poignée d'universités en Nouvelle-Zélande. Voir l'article...
Can we put a number on the value of the arts? This economist thinks so
Where the Time Goes
By Colleen Flaherty. New data about time to degree in Ph.D. programs from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences complicate some current reform efforts to help students get through graduate school faster. At the same time, the data suggest that real time to degree is shorter than many people think it is, and that it’s decreasing in some disciplines – albeit slowly.
Among the key findings is that the median time is longer in the humanities than in any other field, at 6.9 years in 2012, compared to a 5.9-year average for all Ph.D.s. That won’t surprise anyone following the national time-to-degree conversation, but just where in their studies humanities Ph.D.s are stalling might. Read more...