A PLACE FROM WHERE TO SPEAK: THE UNIVERSITY AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM

ABSTRACT:  the university is promoted as 'a place from where to speak'. Academic freedom is examined as a crucial value in an increasingly uncertain age which resonates with Barnett's concern to encourage students to overcome their 'fear of freedom'. My concern is that the putative university space of freedom and autonomy may well become constricted by those who would limit not just our freedom to speak but also our freedoms to be and to do. Without academic freedom students and teachers, who might be able to fly, will not be permitted to fly. I review issues of academic freedom and free speech raised especially by Berlin, Voltaire, von Humboldt, Mill, Milton and Rorty. I discuss problems raised when free speech is heard by others as harmful and offensive to their beliefs and values. I offer a set of suggestions to ensure that the university may envision itself as a space of freedom, pluralism and tolerance. Finally, I reflect that the university, of all democratic institutions, should be the one which best serves its society as 'a place from where to speak' .     

UNIVERSITY AUTONOMY AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

The question of university autonomy is posed and examined from a number of points of view, beginning with a short historical survey of the concept and its application. It is linked to academic freedom, to problems of centralization versus decentralization, to the internal organization of universities, to the role of universities in rapidly changing societies, to democratization, and to societal expectations with regard to universities. If university autonomy is essential for the proper functioning of universities, then quality control and management are essential prerequisites for autonomy.     

论学术自由

学术自由在西方高等教育研究领域是个“显课题” ,这与西方国家的政治、文化背景密切相关。许多西方学者站在不同的学科立场加入到这一问题的争论之中 ,使学术自由的研究呈开放态势。本文作者E·希尔斯是美国著名社会学家、功能主义学派的领袖人物之一。希尔斯本人的政治立场是保守主义的 ,从本文可窥见一斑。而他却善于从更为广阔的社会背景出发 ,对学术自由探幽发微 ,巨细不遗 ,着重阐述了学术自由与外部权威之间的矛盾关系 ,并着重论及学者的政治自由问题 ,为学术自由的研究开辟了新的视野。     

INDIVIDUAL ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND APROFESSIONAL ACTS

In this essay, Liviu Andreescu examines the question of whether a certain category of aprofessional acts by academics (in particular, political speech) deserves protection against academic sanctions under the principle of academic freedom. Andreescu discusses two alternative views of academic freedom (the extensive and the restrictive) providing different answers to the question. He then examines some of the arguments advanced by the proponents of the more recent, restrictive theory of academic freedom against the broader, traditional theory, which in recent times has been on the defensive. Andreescu ultimately suggests that the choice between the two definitions of academic freedom is a question of sound policy in specific institutional contexts, rather than a matter of conceptual consistency.     

ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND THE DIMINISHED SUBJECT

ABSTRACT:  Discussions about freedom of speech and academic freedom today are about the limits to those freedoms. However, these discussions take place mostly in the higher education trade press and do not receive any serious attention from academics and educationalists. In this paper several key arguments for limiting academic freedom are identified, examined and placed in an historical context. That contextualisation shows that with the disappearance of social and political struggles to extend freedom in society there has come a narrowing of academic life and a new and impoverished concept of 'academic freedom' for a diminished idea of the human subject, of humanity and of human potential .     

UNIVERSITY AUTONOMY: MODELS AND PERSPECTIVES

The author suggests that among the changes which will come in the wake of the reduction and the elimination of international boundaries in Europe will be an increase in the linkages among nationally peripheral higher education institutions which happen to be close together but on opposite sides of common international borders. Such linkages, which will no doubt profit from the parallel movement to increase the financial independence of higher education institutions vis‐!‐vis their national authorities, will probably also affect the centre‐periphery balance of power within given national higher education administrative authorities. These questions and others should quickly be made the objects of good comparative studies.     

MEN AND WOMEN IN ACADEMIC CAREERS AT BELARUS STATE UNIVERSITY

The author has focussed on the situation of women academics at Belarus State University. Wishing to ascertain whether or not women are objects of discrimination, she concludes, despite statistics which indicate a paucity of women at the upper levels of the academic hierarchy and in all levels in the sciences, that the problem is that women are barred from competing effectively for the top positions by heavy household and family duties which are not borne by men. Were this burden to be shared equally by men and women, the career chances of women in the academic world might be roughly equal to those of men. However, because of the socio‐economic crisis which Belarus is experiencing and the resulting effects on the university, the normal university career structure is in disarray. Nevertheless, even in today's conditions, it would be difficult to prove the existence of deliberate discrimination against women academics.     

ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN EUROPE: REVIEWING UNESCO'S RECOMMENDATION

ABSTRACT:  This paper examines the compliance of universities in the European Union with the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher–Education Teaching Personnel, which deals primarily with protection for academic freedom. The paper briefly surveys the European genesis of the modern research university and academic freedom, before evaluating compliance with the UNESCO recommendation on institutional autonomy, academic freedom, university governance and tenure. Following from this, the paper examines the reasons for the generally low level of compliance with the UNESCO Recommendation within the EU states, and considers how such compliance could be improved .     

ACADEMIC FREEDOM: ITS NATURE, EXTENT AND VALUE

ABSTRACT:  Academic freedom does not refer to freedom to engage in any speech act, but to freedom to hold any belief and espouse it in an appropriately academic manner. This freedom belongs to certain institutions, rather than to individuals, because of their academic nature. Academic freedom should be absolute, regardless of any offence it may on occasion cause .     

美国大学教师终身教职与学术自由的关系

美国大学教授协会所确立的学术自由与终身教职之间的内在联系 ,使得终身教职成为保证美国大学教师学术自由的制度性工具。关于终身教职与学术自由之间关系的理论探讨 ,均须充分考虑到终身教职的学术自由价值。     

西方现代大学学术自治的制度环境基础:一种政治社会学分析

学术自治一直是现代大学的理想追求 ,也是西方现代大学学术繁荣的前提条件之一。全面考查英国、德国、法国和美国高等教育的发展历程 ,不难看出 ,西方现代大学学术自治的实现有其相应的制度环境条件 ,民主法制条件下有限政府与公民社会的互动为大学学术自治提供了坚实的社会基础。因而 ,中国现代大学的发展需要制度环境的创新。     

知识论传统与学术自由的合法性

本文主要讨论了学术自由合法性的知识论基础 ,认为学术自由的合法性只能从知识本身得到说明 ,并进一步比较了中西方知识论的主要差异 ,试图从学术传统的角度考察中国学术自由价值观之不立以及合法性缺失的原因所在。     

大学教授的学术生活空间-以蔡元培、胡适与顾颉刚为例

从民国时期蔡元培、胡适及顾颉刚等人的学术经验来看,大学本是为大学教授无忧无虑地钻研“高深学问”而建造的场所,然这一理念并不足以维系大学的存在,毋宁说大学的存在更取决于它能否处理好各种外界的和内部的人际事务。校长与大学教授在落实知识生产计划的同时,始终都在承受大学内外人际事务造成的紧张与压力。人际事务挤掉学术研究的案例时有发生,而那些真正“以学术为业”的教授亦只能在复杂人际事务的重压下艰难地开辟做学问的空间。无疑,正是因为有这类在艰难中仍然坚持求知的真正的大学教授,大学才得以彰显其求知本质和学术品格。     

AUTONOMY AND CHURCH UNIVERSITIES IN SPAIN

The question of the autonomy of Roman Catholic universities in Spain is examined in the light of certain unresolved tensions resulting from apparent contradictions between, on one hand, the Convention of 5 April 1962 Concluded between the Spanish State and the Holy See on the Secular Recognition of Studies Undertaken in Catholic Universities and the Agreement of 3 January 1979 Concluded by the Spanish State and the Holy See on Educational and Cultural Matters and, on the other hand, the Organic Law 11/1983 of 25 August 1983 on University Reform. Although the Catholic universities are private institutions, they do not have all the freedoms that other private educational institutions in Spain have. The author considers that this anomaly contradicts the constitutional guarantee of equality before the law.     

论全球化背景下的大学知名度、学术研究及大学教学的相互关系

本文重点探讨全球化背景下的大学知名度问题、大学教师的科研及相关学术活动对大学知名度的重要性、重视教师科研对教学质量的影响,以及科研活动与大学办学宗旨及办学重点的关系。