Outlining a European Agenda for Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy

The IOS Platform “Openness Challenged: The University at Risk?” is glad to invite you to Dialogue 8 in its Academic Freedom Series on “Outlining a European Agenda for Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy”. This hybrid seminar can be attended both on location in Utrecht or online via MS Teams.

Academic freedom at universities is a crucial factor for the development of an open society. Only when academic freedom is sufficiently protected can a democratic society be provided with the knowledge needed to further develop both individuals and society as a whole. Additionally, institutional autonomy is an essential condition directly linked to academic freedom, to provide universities with the ability to make this a reality. But academic freedom and institutional autonomy are increasingly under pressure. 

At present, the debate on the need for protection is prominent on the agenda at different levels (e.g. European and national) and in different places (e.g. politics and academia). Nevertheless, regardless of the level at which the debate is taking place, one thing is certain: legal protection against threats to academic freedom and institutional autonomy seems insufficient so far. The question up for discussion remains: How can academic freedom and institutional autonomy be better protected?

Participants

This mini seminar is convened by Prof. Marijk van der Wende (Utrecht University). During the event, the current situation on various European fronts will be discussed by:

• Professor Peter Maassen (University of Oslo) will discuss the European Parliament’s Academic Freedom Monitor for which he is coordinating the annual studies; and the activities of the Council of Europe’s working group on academic freedom in action, for which he has produced a report on the state of academic freedom in Europe.
• Professor Bjorn Stensaker (University of Oslo) is a leading expert in the field of institutional autonomy. He will outline the trends he observes in Europe and what this could mean for universities and researchers.
• Jurgen Rienks (Neth-ER & Utrecht University) will tell us more about his ongoing PhD research into improving the legal protection of academic freedom and institutional autonomy in the European Union. He will also discuss the situation in the Netherlands.
• Prof. Sybe de Vries (Utrecht University) is discussant for the event providing feedback and commentary to the various contributions.

Registration

Please register to confirm your attendance using the online form, indicating if you will attend on location or online (you will receive the MS Teams link upon registration).