University Values

Articles, essays, and opinion pieces promoting discussion and understanding of university values, including values of access, accountability, academic freedom, autonomy and social responsibility

Academic Freedom Under Threat in Venezuela

In Venezuela, the university space is shrinking. Government policies are creating a man-made disaster with the potential to affect the quality of the country's higher education system and the lives of its scholars, students, and society for generations.

Some Puzzles of Academic Freedom (Parts 2 and 3)

The degree to which various human rights determine academic freedom.

The UNESCO 1997 Recommendation – Is it legally binding?

Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua | The UNESCO General Conference adopted the Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel (Recommendation) in 1997. The document was passed without a dissenting vote, with four countries issuing reservations.(1) This moment was a watershed in the

Ousted Vice-Chancellor Returns to His Post

I never thought in my career as an academic, I would be persecuted by a State for no other reason than doing my job.

Why the Jailing of Alexander Sodiqov Matters

Alexander Sodiqov, my PhD student in comparative politics at the University of Toronto, was detained by the security services in Tajikistan on June 16, 2014. While no formal charges have been filed to date, the government-sponsored press appears to be

Threats to Dissident Thinkers After the 22 May 2014 Coup in Thailand

‘Junta Targets Scholars for New Detentions’ read the headline of the New York Times, putting Thai intellectuals and intellectuals around the world on notice that academic freedom and freedoms of thought, opinion and expression were once again under grave

Some Puzzles of Academic Freedom (Part 1)

In his criticism of my view on academic freedom, Klaus Beiter touches upon some puzzles of academic freedom. I want to make some observations on these puzzles, explaining in the process where I think Beiter has misunderstood me and where

A Theoretical Review of the Origins of Academic Freedom

This article focuses on the doctrinal “source” of academic freedom.

Post-SAR Congress Reflections on the Essence of Protecting Academic Freedom

The pursuit of higher education does not merely mean working upon what is instructed or presented by supervisors. Neither does it mean indoctrination in any pre-defined stream or school of thought. It means much more than that.

Student Perspective: Critical Thinking: A Key Element in Reconciliation and Peace-Building

Critical thinking, a key university value, contributes to peace-building by enabling people to question ideologies, authority and narratives of “the other”. Such questioning can lead to a greater understanding of conflict, a necessary precondition for the mutual trust that is

A Call for Research and Knowledge Sharing on the Role of Higher Education in Post-Conflict Recovery

Higher education is often neglected in terms of post-conflict investment yet the sector offers arguably a major resource that can contribute to post-conflict reconstruction, statebuilding, peacebuilding, and related fields – what will be referred to here as post-conflict recovery.

Syrian Universities in the Uprising

In February 2011, when 15 school children were arrested in Daraa, a small city close to the Jordanian border, everything changed in Syria.

Arab Upheavals Trigger New Sensitivities in Gulf Funding for Western Universities

In February, a conference jointly organised by the London School of Economics and the American University of Sharjah was cancelled after the authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) refused to permit discussion of my paper on the uprising in