Purpose

A major justification for the state subsidy of university education at public institutions (and, in some countries, of private universities too) is the economic and social benefits accruing to society as whole from a significantly university-educated workforce and citizenship. Based upon a broad range of research findings, a particular societal benefit emanating from higher education relates to good citizenship: that it leads to more open mindedness and tolerant political attitudes. We examined these issues using a representative sample of students from Israeli universities to clarify the extent to which these outcomes would be paralleled in the Israeli setting, where the university experience differs markedly from that found typically in the West.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is based on a comparison of political tolerance levels between first- and final-year students enrolled in regular undergraduate study programs (of four days a week or more). However since a change in tolerance is likely to be contingent also on the amount of time that the student spends on campus during the study year, we introduce, as a control group, students enrolled in compressed study programs (of three days a week or less) and compare changes in their tolerance levels with tolerance changes of students enrolled in regular programs. Research questionnaires were distributed to undergraduate students at three universities from the three major districts in Israel–north, south and center. The achieved sample size was 329 students.

Findings

Using Difference-in-Differences techniques, we looked for any changes in students' general political tolerance, over the course of their studies. Surprisingly, we found no such effect on political tolerance attitudes. Israeli students are older and often married and though nominally full-time students, they often hold down a full-time job. Thus they come and go to attend lectures but do not otherwise spend much time on campus. Given the somewhat perfunctory nature of the university experience for most Israeli students, it does not to lead to more open-minded and tolerant political attitudes.

Practical implications

Some broader, practical applications of the research, beyond the Israeli case, are presented, particularly related to distance learning and to the impact of COVID-19. Attention is given to more recent “Cancel culture” developments on university campuses.

Originality/value

The results have wider implications, to other university setting in other countries. Changes in political attitudes may occur in university settings where campus life is well developed, with opportunities for student interaction, formally in extra-curricular events or through social mixing outside the lecture hall. Where the university experience is more minimally confined to attendance at lectures these desirable outcomes may not be forth coming. These findings are relevant to other university frameworks where campus attendance is marginal, such as in open university education and, even more explicitly, in purely internet-based higher education study.

中文翻译：

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大学出勤率是否影响学生的政治宽容和思想开放：以色列的非典型案例？

目的

国家补贴公共机构（以及在某些国家，私立大学）的大学教育的一个主要理由是，受过大量大学教育的劳动力和公民为整个社会带来的经济和社会利益。根据广泛的研究结果，高等教育产生的特殊社会效益与良好的公民身份有关：它导致更开放的思想和宽容的政治态度。我们使用来自以色列大学的具有代表性的学生样本研究了这些问题，以阐明这些结果在以色列环境中的相似程度，因为以色列的大学经历与典型的西方大学经历显着不同。

设计/方法/方法

该研究基于对参加常规本科学习课程（每周四天或更长时间）的一年级和最后一年学生之间的政治容忍度进行比较。然而，由于容忍度的变化也可能取决于学生在学习年在校园里花费的时间，我们将参加压缩学习计划（每周三天或更少）的学生作为对照组引入) 并将他们的容忍度变化与注册常规课程的学生的容忍度变化进行比较。研究问卷被分发给来自以色列北部、南部和中部三个主要地区的三所大学的本科生。达到的样本量为 329 名学生。

发现

使用差异中的差异技术，我们寻找学生在学习过程中总体政治容忍度的任何变化。令人惊讶的是，我们发现对政治宽容态度没有这种影响。以色列学生年龄较大，通常已婚，虽然名义上是全日制学生，但他们经常从事全职工作。因此，他们来来去去听讲座，但不会在校园里花太多时间。鉴于大多数以色列学生的大学经历有些敷衍，这并不会导致更加开放和宽容的政治态度。

实际影响

除了以色列的案例之外，还介绍了该研究的一些更广泛、实际的应用，特别是与远程学习和 COVID-19 的影响相关的应用。关注最近大学校园中“取消文化”的发展。

原创性/价值

结果对其他国家的其他大学环境具有更广泛的影响。政治态度的变化可能发生在校园生活发达的大学环境中，学生互动的机会，正式的课外活动或通过演讲厅外的社交活动。如果大学的经历更多地仅限于参加讲座，这些理想的结果可能不会出现。这些发现与校园出勤率较低的其他大学框架相关，例如在开放大学教育中，更明确地说，在纯粹基于互联网的高等教育研究中。