In our first “Have Your Say” personal essay of 2022 — In Vienna, a University Program Teaches Jewish Cultural Heritage, filling a growing professional need — Prof. Carsten Wilke of Central European University describes CEU’s unique MA specialization program in Jewish Cultural Heritage.
The program, launched in 2015, enables students in CEU’s two-year MA degree in Cultural Heritage Studies to simultaneously enroll in CEU’s Jewish Studies program for a combined degree.
The program was conceived to fill a new professional need in the face of growing interest in preserving Jewish heritage, particularly in places where there is no Jewish community.
CEU is a private, English-language institution now headquartered in Vienna after being forced to relocate from Budapest.
In his essay, Wilke, who originated the joint program, describes the program and introduces some of the students and gives voice to their motivations.
“As a teacher, I find these reflections from our students profoundly encouraging, since they show that the study of Jewish Cultural Heritage brings together young scholars motivated by personal experience and engagement in countries throughout and beyond Europe,” he writes. “I look forward to hosting future ambitious projects at this international university, which has always been eager, as one of our student group put it, to ‘make academic discourse tangible.'”
