THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE CRISES IN ISRAELI HIGHER-EDUCATION IN THE 90S

This study focuses on the Israeli experience of developing higher educ ation as part of the expansion of a nation-building economic project. Educational development and the current crises are examined in the con text of a particular history and a unique socioeconomic, political, an d cultural experience. Nevertheless, the purpose of this research is t o allow the drawing of meaningful inferences, so that researchers into other national cases might profit from the insight into the sources, both visible and less visible, for the ''break in equilibrium'' (Bourd ieu's term) in the Israeli academy. At stake is the most characteristi c feature of the old Israeli academic model, namely the conflation of the missions of teaching and research. To discover the present state o f the research-teaching nexus, we examined faculty perceptions as refl ected in a recent (1993) survey. This survey was part of the first Car negie International Survey of the Academic Profession, and its interna tional scope allowed us to undertake some comparative analyses. The Is raeli case-study, as well as the analysis of the International survey, shows that devotion to research and meeting teaching obligations, col laboration on research with others, obtaining funds for research, and scholarly publication have strong disciplinary relevance in the day-to -day shaping of academic life in all post-industrialized countries, Is rael among them.