University of Bern replaces controversial Middle East department
The University of Bern has created a new department, combining social anthropology, religious and cultural studies and Middle Eastern linguistics. It will replace the university’s former Middle East Institute, which was dissolved under controversial circumstances earlier this year.
+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
In a press release issued on Thursday, the University of Bern writes that this will create the opportunity for increased interdisciplinary cooperation.
Last February, the University of Bern dissolved its Middle East Institute following an administrative investigation. This had been initiated after a lecturer at the institute publicly made positive comments about the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.
The establishment of the new department and the study programs will take place during a transitional period. During this period, students from the existing programs will be able to obtain their degrees.
Translated from German by DeepL/mga
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.