In person icon Academic Freedom Under Pressure

Abstract

Academic freedom is a fundamental value and principle in higher education and research. In recent years, various concerns have been raised about the state of academic freedom in Europe and beyond. While academic freedom is legally protected in all European countries, there are worries about the de facto erosion of academic freedom in European academia. The worries concern threats from outside the academia – including public authorities and political parties, the current geopolitical situation, private sector interests, societal actors; as well as those from within – both from the side of institutional leadership and management as well as from the academic community itself. From being a norm often referred to but rarely discussed in detail, academic freedom has become an important policy issue in a growing number of countries, as well as at the European level. The papers in this panel represent different disciplinary, methodological and analytical approaches, to explore how academic freedom has entered European level policy debates, the commercialization of academia and freedom of scientific research, how professional sector outlets address the issue of academic freedom, as well as the status concerning cancel culture in academia.

Title	Details
Academic Freedom and European Knowledge Policy	View Paper Details
What’s the News on Academic Freedom? Automated Text Analysis of University World News	View Paper Details
Controversy in the Discursive Space of the University	View Paper Details
Commercialisation of Academia, EU Law and Art. 13 of the EU Charter	View Paper Details
Academic Freedom as Academic “Oxygen”; a Legal Inquiry into the Notion of Academic Freedom as a Necessary Condition for Higher Education Institutions to Function	View Paper Details