The European Parliament's Academic Freedom Forum, launched in 2022 amid concerns about academic freedom in the EU, reveals erosion across member states. The Forum aims to better understand threats and enhance the promotion and protection of academic freedom in Europe.
In most societies around the world, academic freedom is acknowledged and legally protected as a fundamental value and principle in higher education, and is seen as a necessary condition for attaining high quality academic education and research. Furthermore, it is expected that academics use their academic freedom to acquire, generate, apply, and disseminate knowledge in ways that are essential for their societies when it comes to maintaining well-functioning political and economic institutions and a strong social fabric.
From that basic perspective, it is very disturbing that studies undertaken since 2022 for the European Parliament (EP) Academic Freedom Forum show that academic freedom is under growing pressure in practically all EU member states. This also explains why also the European Commission, the Bologna Follow Up Group and the Council of Europe have recently initiated studies and projects on this issue.
This article discusses challenges behind the efforts to strengthen the protection of academic freedom in Europe, and findings of the studies undertaken for the EP Forum, as well as policy options to strengthen its protection in the European Union.
Studies conducted for the EP Forum have made it clear that the ambition to strengthen the protection of academic freedom in Europe is facing several challenges.
First, there is no generally agreed upon definition. Academic freedom has traditionally been defined as freedom granted to individuals in the academic profession. More recently, academic freedom has also been interpreted as applicable to higher education students and administrative staff. Furthermore, academic freedom does not exist in a vacuum, but within a specific institutional setting. While some restrict this setting to the classical research university, others include not only all types of higher education institutions, but also research institutes and private sector research and development units. The connection between individual academic freedom and the institutional setting is crucial because the institutional setting must be responsible for creating and guarding the conditions for individual academic freedom to be exercised.
Second, there is a lack of valid empirical data on academic freedom. Third, there is insufficient funding for thoroughly investigating academic freedom.
The European Parliament studies aim at contributing to a better conceptual understanding of academic freedom, collection of valid empirical data, and building of scholarly capacity.
Based on the work by central scholars in the field, such as Olivier Beaud, Katrin Kinzelbach, Walter Metzger, and Robert Post, academic freedom is operationalized in the European Parliament studies as consisting of three basic dimensions and a set of key conditions under which academic freedom is to be exercised as optimally as possible. The basic dimensions are the freedom to research, the freedom to teach and learn, and the academic (and not general) freedom of expression, dissemination, and collaboration. The conditions for exercising academic freedom include institutional autonomy, involvement of academic staff and students in higher education governance, and academic labor conditions.
Within the European Union, systemic and structural infringements of the basic dimensions of and conditions for academic freedom only take place in Hungary. At the same time, in other EU member states a gradual erosion of academic freedom is taking place. According to the European Parliament studies undertaken in 2022 and 2023, the six main sources of the current threats to and violations of academic freedom in the European Union are: interference by political actors; actions by university leadership and management; internal conflicts and tensions among academic staff and students; attacks from civil society; intensifying relationships with private sector actors; and European/national security policies or foreign interference. Furthermore, national context plays an important role, implying that there are significant variations among EU member states in the nature and intensity of the erosion of academic freedom.
Legal measures put in place to protect academic freedom in the European Union were introduced in a specific time frame and set of national and institutional conditions. Thus, while protections for traditional threats may be in place, they might not always be effective against these threats when circumstances change. The situation gets even more challenging when it comes to new threats, such as increased opportunities for surveilling research, teaching and debates, intensifying use of social media, and a growing involvement of both private firms and private foundations in academic research and education. The European Parliament studies particularly noted that the situation becomes more serious when threats from politics, civil society groups, and private sector actors are intertwined. Such constellations may emerge across the whole political spectrum, and they can create considerable engagement on social media, often resulting in personal, unprecedented attacks on academics. Not only is legal protection of academics inadequate in such instances, but there is also a lack of valid knowledge on the consequences of these trends.
Obviously, academic freedom is not an absolute freedom in the European Union, nor is it to be confused with the general freedom of expression, which is a basic human right that belongs to every citizen. There are legitimate limitations, both internally and externally, that include directives, regulations, and framework conditions for academic activities. Furthermore, academic freedom comes with various responsibilities and obligations. These include the responsibilities related to the customs of the university as an institution, to effective and ethically responsible governance of universities, as well as to academic integrity and addressing society’s needs.
The European Parliament studies have proposed several policy options for avoiding further erosion of academic freedom in the European Union. Proposed measures are aimed at raising awareness about the importance of academic freedom and improving its protection. These include strengthening the existing European legal framework for promoting and protecting academic freedom; setting up a European Platform for Academic Freedom; integrating academic freedom more effectively and consistently into the EU higher education, research, development, and innovation programs; and establishing a European clearinghouse for meta-analysis of existing relevant studies and data. Input of the academic community is crucial for successful further development and implementation of these policies, both at the European and national level.
Peter Maassen is a professor of higher education and science studies at the Department of Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo, Norway. E-mail: [email protected].
More information on the European Parliament Forum for Academic Freedom as well as the 2023 report can be found on the website of the European Parliament.