University attacks in democracies ‘embolden illiberal regimes’

A trend of “autocratisation” that has seen liberal democracies elect politicians who have then used their power to undermine or overhaul universities risks emboldening authoritarian regimes in their own attacks on higher education, a report has warned.

Restrictions on academic freedom in Europe and the US are being “exported to the rest of the world”, says Free to Think 2024, published on 8 October by Scholars at Risk, which adds that liberal and authoritarian governments are “increasingly taking pages from each other’s playbooks” to damage their higher education sectors.

The report documents 391 attacks recorded against higher education institutions in 51 countries and territories between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. While down marginally on the previous year’s figures, when 409 attacks were recorded, the report highlights a continuing deterioration in conditions for academic freedom worldwide.

About a quarter of the total attacks – 100 incidents – were violent assaults on institutions or academics, with the result of “undermining the security of higher education institutions” and resulting in “brain drain” and productivity losses.

Renewed violence in the Middle East “dramatically shaped the environment on university and college campuses across the globe” during the period analysed, the report highlights, both because it has resulted in the total destruction of higher education institutions in Gaza, and in university crackdowns on student protests in North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia.

Dozens of institutions saw university or state policy result in the detention of protesters on campuses, including 70 in the US alone, and many universities cancelled events and speaking engagements that focused on the conflict. Meanwhile, tens of scholars in the US and Germany who spoke out about the violence or criticised the Israeli government on social media found their job offers rescinded, teaching duties suspended or contracts terminated.

Overall, 91 of the attacks included wrongful imprisonment and prosecution, 81 concerned the loss of position by dismissal, suspension or denial of contract renewal, and there were 162 incidents of limitations on student expression.

“Attacks on higher education do not just harm the immediate victims,” said Robert Quinn, executive director at SAR. “They have a chilling effect on university communities, weakening democracy by stifling intellectual enquiry and the free exchange of ideas. This is also why attacks in liberal states must be taken seriously – so that they do not go unaddressed and contribute to the erosion of democratic values.”

Legislators are increasingly using regulatory powers to “encroach on academic spaces”, the report says, through outright bans on education, restrictions on university autonomy, and laws and policies limiting free speech or international research collaboration.

“In some of the most closed and authoritarian contexts, higher education is being used as a space to promote specific dominant ideologies. In other contexts – including those that are more open and particularly where neoliberal models guide higher education management and governance – the financing of higher education has become a tool for restricting academic freedom,” the report says.

In the US, the report highlights, Idaho’s governor signed into law regulation that allows state lawmakers to leverage the budget to prohibit disfavoured topics at public universities, and bars public universities from establishing or running diversity, equality and inclusion offices and from requiring diversity statements.

Elsewhere, in Canada, a proposed foreign influence transparency registry could “chill international research collaboration”, while in February 2024, the Australian foreign minister wrote to more than 30 university leaders asking them to pause research partnerships with Iranian institutions.

“Such policies are attacks on higher education insofar as they are specifically intended to restrict research, discourse, teaching, and learning on campus. Moreover, because these policies have a veneer of legitimacy (which obscures their improper intent), they are a particularly insidious form of attack on academic freedom and free expression on campus,” the report adds.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com