Academic freedom: Are there EU legal standards?

European Higher Education Area: Challenges for a New Decade, 2020

The paper argues that the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is currently experiencing a crisis of academic freedom and discusses the need to chart a course out of this crisis. The paper further claims that the crisis, with its two dimensions (intellectual and empiric), is specific to Europe/EHEA; it is not a global or national crisis, although there are challenges to academic freedom in all other parts of the world and also within individual national higher education systems in Europe. Efforts have been started recently to address key challenges to academic freedom in the EHEA and eventually plot a course out of this crisis. The paper outlines how a comparative and applied interdisciplinary study of these efforts helps reveal their nature and scope, identify the actors/stakeholders involved as well as those, astoundingly, absent; it also allows to discuss and assess early on the chances of success and identify challenges and gaps in these efforts. The paper concludes that charting a course for academic freedom at present in the EHEA is an intergovernmental process. Higher education institutions and academics are not part of this process.

Global Constitutionalism, 2024

Europe has recently struggled with democratic backsliding and autocratization. This autocratization has accompanied a decline in academic freedom in many backsliding countries, as reported by the Academic Freedom Index. Can the standards set by the European supranational courts effectively safeguard academic freedom? This article provides answers to this question. It argues that despite differences in their approaches, the theoretical conceptions of scholarship held by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) share an essential feature: both have moved towards embracing the 'liberal science script' by protecting academic freedom. The main difference between the two courts' approaches is the subject of protection. The ECtHR focuses on the individual rights of academics: It protects free speech in the academic context by establishing a high standard for holding academics liable for publicly expressing their views inside and outside of academia. The ECJ has applied the concept of institutional autonomy, thereby setting a high standard for safeguarding the freedom of academic institutions. This standard can be applied with regard to the demands placed by policy-makers on academia regarding its role in democracy, including gender equality requirements for EU research funding.

European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance, 2016

Focusing on those countries that are members of the European Union, it may be noted that these countries are bound under international human rights agreements, such as the International Covenants on Civil and Political, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights or the European Convention on Human Rights, to safeguard academic freedom under provisions providing for the right to freedom of expression, the right to education, and respect for ‘the freedom indispensable for scientific research.’ unesco’s Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel, a ‘soft-law’ document of 1997, concretises international human rights requirements to be complied with to make the protection of the right to academic freedom effective. Relying on a set of human rights indicators, the present article assesses the extent to which the constitutions, laws on higher education, and other relevant legislation of eu states implement the Recommendation’s criteria. The situation of acade...

European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance, 3(3), 254-345, 2016

This article resembles: "Measuring" the Erosion of Academic Freedom as an International Human Right: A Report on the Legal Protection of Academic Freedom in Europe (Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 49(3), 2016, 597-691). However, it includes new sections (such as Part 5 on "Indicators and Rankings: Some Observations"), uses different examples in the main part (Part 8 on "The Legal Protection of the Right to Academic Freedom in Europe: The Results of the Assessment"), and, generally, constitutes a new/revised arrangement of content. Focusing on those countries that are members of the European Union, it may be noted that these countries are bound under international human rights agreements, such as the International Covenants on Civil and Political, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights or the European Convention on Human Rights, to safeguard academic freedom under provisions providing for the right to freedom of expression, the right to education, and respect for “the freedom indispensable for scientific research.” UNESCO’s Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel, a “soft-law” document of 1997, concretises international human rights requirements to be complied with to make the protection of the right to academic freedom effective. Relying on a set of human rights indicators, the present article assesses the extent to which the constitutions, laws on higher education, and other relevant legislation of EU states implement the Recommendation’s criteria. The situation of academic freedom in practice will not be assessed here. The results for the various countries have been quantified and countries ranked in accordance with “their performance.” The assessment demonstrates that, overall, the state of the protection of the right to academic freedom in the law of European states is one of “ill-health.” Institutional autonomy is being misconstrued as exhausting the concept of academic freedom, self-governance in higher education institutions sacrificed for “executive-style” management, and employment security abrogated to cater for “changing employment needs” in higher education.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 49(3), 597-691, 2016

This Article reports and comments on the results of an assessment of the legal protection of the right to academic freedom (an examination of its factual protection to be undertaken at a future point) in EU member states, having examined these countries’ constitutions, laws on higher education, and other relevant legislation. The assessment relied on a standard scorecard, developed by utilizing indicators of protection of academic freedom, notably as reflected in UNESCO’s Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel, a document of 1997 that is not legally, but “politically” binding, and which concretizes international human rights requirements in respect of academic freedom—a right under international human rights law. The results for the various countries have been quantified, and the countries have been ranked in accordance with “their performance.” Overall, the state of the legal protection of the right to academic freedom in Europe appears to be one of “ill-health.” Increasingly, European countries are merely paying lip service to this important right. While the concept of institutional autonomy is being misconstrued, self-governance in higher education institutions and employment security are being subjected to rigorous processes of erosion.

Logos Anales Del Seminario De Metafisica, 2007

It is argued that university education has a moral and social function in society. Its purpose is to provide a liberal education (developing the intellect by challenging it to grapple freely with difficult ideas), the development of new knowledge and the provision of trustworthy, disinterested research. To serve society in this way safeguards are necessary: a separation from the state, giving institutional autonomy and academic freedom in teaching and research. With the rise of extreme free market capitalism and the "knowledge society", these safeguards are being eroded: national governments, partly through the ramifications of the Bologna convergence process, are in the process of moulding universities to the needs of the market, and now see the accommodation of students to the workplace as the principal, or indeed only, objective for a university education. Example of the consequences of these changes are discussed, including the corruption of research integrity and erosion of individual liberties.

RuZ - Recht und Zugang, 2021

Wissenschaftsfreiheit ist gefährdet. Vielfältige Herausforderungen führen zu einer zunehmenden Einschränkung der Freiheiten von Wissenschaftler:innen. Am 11. und 12. November 2021 veranstaltete re:constitution in Zusammenarbeit mit Matej Avbelj von der New University, Ljubljana, das Hybrid-Seminar: "Resisting Multiple Pressures - Perspectives on Academic Freedom in Europe". Ziel des Seminars war es, Herausforderungen für die akademische Freiheit in einer Vielzahl von Themenbereichen zu erörtern, darunter politischen, kulturellen und gesellschaftlichen Druck sowie Druck, der durch neue Technologien, Digitalisierung und Globalisierung entsteht. Die Präsentationen zeigten, dass Europa Heimat vieler unterschiedlicher akademischer Regeln, Standards und Praktiken ist. Dabei wurde ersichtlich, dass die Wissenschaftsfreiheit in den verschiedenen Kontexten leidet und dringend der Aufmerksamkeit bedarf. Während die akademische Freiheit einiger Wissenschaftler:innen durch physische u...

2010

2015

On the first day of a new class, you notice two students interacting. The young woman, Eva, twirls her hair in her finger as she talks, smiles, lightly laughs at times to what her partner says, asks questions, and maintains eye contact. Do you think her behaviors reflect her level of attraction or interest in the other student? If so, your conclusions about Eva reflect your own personal theories of human communication. For most of us, the term "theory" is a little intimidating and suggests something that is boring or of little value to us. What you might not realize is that you depend upon theories to help you make it through each day. Theories are not just abstract, vague, complex sets of weird ideas. Instead, they can be simple and practical principles, guidelines, hunches, and predictions that help you make sense and respond effectively to the world. You develop, test, and tweak a set of personal theories that help you interpret perceptions and guide your behaviors. Your creation of personal theories reflects an important principle that is also true of the theories included in this text: humans are theory creating beings.

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