Politics and protests puts Europe’s academic freedom policies under the spotlight
Fintan Burke | 04 January 2024 | Science-Business
The pressure for EU legislation to protect academic freedom ramped up towards the end of 2023 when the European Parliament’s STOA panel for the future of science and technology set out its plan of action.
Amongst other measures, STOA is calling for a formal definition of academic freedom and a monitoring system to ensure these principles are enforced.
The initiative is led by STOA chair Christian Ehler MEP, who pointed to declining academic freedom in Poland and Hungary as a spur. “If you look at what we currently call ‘incidents’ […] the legal situation is not so clear and also politically, let's be honest, there’s reluctance,” he said.
There is also action at a national level, with a scorecard published by the European University Association showing governments including Spain, Latvia, the UK and Sweden are enacting laws bolstering academic freedom rights.
This is leading academics to wonder who has the final say on academic freedom policies….