Full Description
Is academic freedom threatened? The book examines current challenges to academic freedom in Europe, focusing mainly on Italy and Germany.
The cases discussed demonstrate that research and teaching are under pressure in European democracies: in Hungary and Poland due to political constraints, in other countries due to societal expectations. Considering different interrelated aspects, the four parts of the book explore many real and potential threats to universities, scientific institutions and researchers, ranging from the European dimension of freedom of the arts and sciences to comparative analysis of emerging challenges to academic freedom against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. They highlight threats to university autonomy from the economic orientation of university governance, which emphasizes efficiency, competition, and external evaluation, and from new rules concerning trigger warnings, speech restrictions, and ethics commissions.
Detailed study of these complex threats is intended to stimulate scholarly reflection and elicit serious discussion at European and national level. The volume contributes to the search for a new role of universities and scientific institutions and is addressed to academics and political stakeholders.
Contents
Introduction: The Multiple Expressions of Academic Freedom.- Part I:Academic Freedom in Europe.- Science and the European Dimension of Freedom of the Arts and Science.- Freedom of Research and Academic Teaching in the European Union.- Freedom of Scientific Research in the European Research Area: Weaknesses and Strengths.- Academic Freedom and Cross-Border Cooperation: Conceptual Reflections and a Contextual Analysis in Relation to the South Tyrol Alpine Borderland.- Part II: New Challenge.- The State of Academic Freedom in Hungary - The Saga of the Central European University and the Research Network of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Light of National and European Guarantees of Academic Freedom. The Covid-19 Pandemic as a Challenge for Academia and Academic Freedom - An Italian Perspective.- Academic Freedom and the Use of Native Languages.- Part III: Threats to Freedom of Teaching and Research in the Light of a "Governance by Numbers".- Academic Freedom, University Autonomy (Work in Progress) and the Striving towards Accountability - An Italian Perspective.- Evaluation, Projectification, Governance by Numbers and their Impact on Academic Research - The German Perspective.- University Autonomy: Just One Step on a Long Road Ahead.- Automated Decisions, Research Quality Assessment and Step-Based Salary System: Potential Dangers for Academic Freedom in Italy.- Part IV: The New Role of Universities and the Freedom of Science and Teaching.- Private Higher Education and Academic Freedom.- Open Access Publication and Academic Freedom in the Field of the Social Sciences and Humanities from a Constitutional Law Perspective in Italy.- The Third Mission of Universities: Technology Transfer and its Impact on Academic Freedom.- Do Ethics Commissions Promote or Endanger Academic Freedom?.- Ethical Codes and Speech Restrictions: New Scenarios and Constitutional Challenges to Freedom of Teaching at University - The Italian Perspective.- Trigger Warnings and Academic Freedom: a Pedagogic Perspective.- Autonomy and Interdependence: the Relationship of Experts and Laypeople in Science from a Sociological Perspective.
