Challenges to Academic Freedom: Some Empirical Evidence

Abstract

It seems appropriate to distinguish at least two aspects of academic freedom: (a) freedom from external constraints in choosing topics, concepts, methods and sources, which in western democracies generally enjoys a certain level of protection by law; (b) freedom to act in the pursuit of goals and values, with academic staff being in control of the relevant means to do so, which is generally strictly related to the overall organisation of universities and the higher education system at large. Both these aspects have been understood as necessary conditions for producing and disseminating new knowledge, i.e. the two main functions of higher education institutions. It can be added that academic freedom has been considered as one of the elements defining the academic profession, at least after the Second World War. On the one hand, academic freedom is strictly connected with the idea that the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake through research represents the main goal of the academic work. On the other hand, academic freedom and peer review are considered as necessary devices to ensure quality, i.e. quality is ensured by the self-steering capacities of academics or their professional autonomy. In the last few decades, several processes have had an impact on academic freedom: (a) the rise of higher education institutions as more autonomous corporate bodies, which has implied the strengthening of the role of administrative staff at the expense of the academic community, a trend that has been named ‘managerialism’; (b) the drive of governments away from more direct forms of control in favour of a system of distant steering, which has implied stronger accountability of higher education institutions and academics and the use of assessment devices; (c) the increasing demands to and pressures on academics and higher education by both the economy and society to support economic development, innovation, and social progress, a trend to which we refer to as growing expectations of relevance. The impact of the first two processes is quite clear and pertains mostly to relationships within higher education institutions and to the relationship between academics and the state. The impact of the last process is less clear and pertains to the relationships between academics and the external world, mostly the economy, but also society. Building on the results of the Changing Academic Profession survey, this article will address the issue of the growing pressures on academics to be ‘relevant’ to both society and the economy, and of the mechanisms through which the notion of relevance intrudes into the academic profession in selected European countries, especially evaluation, funding, and specific kinds of research activities.

Research “Values” in the Humanities: Funding Policies, Evaluation, and Cultural Resources. Some Introductory Remarks

“…For instance, in a 2010 article published in Chimia (volume 64), with the provocative title "The follies of citation indices and academic ranking lists. A brief commentary to 'Bibliometrics as weapons of mass citation'", 4 the 1991 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry, Richard Ernst, highlighted the inadequacy of quantitative measures for judging the quality of science publications and projects, insisting "Start reading papers instead of merely rating them by counting citations" (quoted in [12], pp. 1, 30, 92, 108).…”

“…Evolving solutions for research evaluation that react against the "diktat of the impact factor" and try to counteract the proliferation of papers (and fees to access them) are under study as viable alternatives to peer review, such as open peer review, downloads, media, and social media coverage-"the possibility for reviewers to share comments on each other's reviews in advance of an editorial decision" [6], a practice that is not yet widespread but which offers the advantage of self-instruction, for each reviewer confronts different viewpoints on the same subject, and is led to appreciate both the limit and the additional value of her or his critical contribution. However, 4 In the title of his paper, Richard Ernst refers to A. Molinié and G. Bodenhausen's article on bibliometrics, published in the same volume of Chimia (see [12], p. 30).…”

“…Timo Aarrevaara (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki) has examined the consequences of the increasing demand for and growing expectations of "relevance" on the freedom of research and teaching, in light of a survey on the universities of Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, and the UK [3]. According to Michele Rostan (Center for Study and Research on Higher Education Systems, University of Pavia), "managerialism" (the strengthening of the role of the administrative staff) and governments' systems of distant steering imply the "stronger accountability of universities and the use of assessment devices", viewed as an attack on the pursuit of knowledge as an end in itself, without regard to its financial value [4]. A special issue of EuroScientist devoted to research evaluation [5] argues against the fairness of the current systems, and questions the "dogma of excellence", with contributions by Arran Frood [6] and Francesco Sylos Labini [7].…”

The changing demands of academic life in Ireland

“…Indeed, attempts to align the goals of the institution with the work of faculty has often been interpreted as an attempt to exercise control over this group of staff (Coaldrake and Stedman, 1999). Among the institutional changes having an impact on academic freedom are managerialism (Rostan, 2010), the increasing influence of the market (O'Hear, 1988), and the increasing performance-oriented nature of the sector (Olssen and Peters, 2005). Also, the complex force of globalisation impacts upon all elements of education systems (Eggins, 2003), including 'policy-making, governance and organisation and academic work and identity' (Vaira, 2004: p.484).…”

Samfélagslegt hlutverk háskóla – Kostun í íslenskum háskólum

“…Með auknu umfangi háskólastarfs virðist það hafa faerst í vöxt að einkafyrirtaeki og stjórnvöld saeki þekkingu og aðstoð til vísindamanna í háskólum um ýmis úrlausnarefni (Rostan 2010, Irma Erlingsdóttir 2011. Á móti hefur sú haetta skapast að trúverðug-leiki rannsókna og fraeðilegs starfs sé tortryggður og vísindamenn eru jafnvel sakaðir um að ganga á hönd fjármagnseigenda og stjórnvalda á kostnað fraeða, eða jafnvel hið gagnstaeða að grafa undan stjórnvöldum.…”