Morning Tel Aviv Commuters Get Free University Lectures
Hebrew University of Jerusalem has devised the interesting plan to further the education of local citizens; every Wednesday, they put a university professor on a train to lecture commuters.
Morning passengers using the 9:00 am commuter train starting off from the Tel Aviv suburb of Modiin can put away their morning tabloids and listen to a lecture by Professor Hanoch Gutfreund on ‘Einstein’s love letters’.
The Einstein lecture was the initial ‘class’ by the university through a programme nick-named ‘scientists on the rails’. The school aims to bring academia to regular people and enhance the appeal of higher education.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem spokeswoman Orit Sulitzeanu said the importance of higher education must be understood by the general public. She said that higher education is currently undergoing a crisis, one which is slowly eroding its status and that there is urgency for people of all walks of life to see it as a strategic asset for the nation.
Train lecturer Professor Gutfreund, who himself is a former university president, delighted commuters with anecdotes about the love letters of Albert Einstein had written to his two wives, demonstrating also how intricate details could reveal an aspect of one of the greatest scientists in history at a time when he re-invented the way we perceived the universe.
Explaining the school’s choice of subject, Sulitzeanu said the university had wanted to do a scientific topic, but one which could have an immediate appeal for the wider population.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is also where the Albert Einstein Archives are located, a home for all his personal papers.
Gutfreund claimed never to have given a lecturer where half the attendees had had their backs turned to him, adding he had been warmly greeted by the commuters even if he had been occasionally interrupted by the conductor calling the stations.
Regular commuter Isabelle Tovi called the lecture ‘wonderful’. She said she’d love to attend university classes, but says her schedule doesn’t allow it. But she added that she’s planning to change the time of her morning train ride to match with the lectures.
So far, the commuter classes have been organised to be offered for after morning rush-hour and to avoid antagonising people, they are only given in one carriage on the train.