1st Edition

Academic Freedom in Higher Education Core Value or Elite Privilege?

Edited By Maria Slowey, Richard Taylor Copyright 2025
226 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

226 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

226 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This timely book explores the challenges facing universities and individual scholars through an examination of the history and theory underlying the concept of academic freedom. Freedom of speech is widely viewed as a central attribute of contemporary liberal democracies in which — within limits — differing opinions have the right to be articulated in public without fear of reprisal. Academic... Read more

Part I: Academic freedom: the issues

1. Introduction. Academic Freedom: core value or elite privilege?
Maria Slowey and Richard Taylor

2. Academic freedom and the dilemmas of the modern university
Peter Scott  

3. ‘Free speech’, academic freedom, and the Public Sphere: some reflections on principles
Alan Haworth 

Part II: Academic freedom: case studies from British higher education (1945-1990)

4. Academic freedom, universities and the Left: a case study of British university adult education in the early years of the Cold War
Richard Taylor 

5. The university as a contested space: ‘no platforming’ controversies at British universities, 1968-1990
Evan Smith

Part III: Academic freedom: contrasting international experiences

6. Academic freedom under ideological attacks in Mexico
Wietse de Vries

7. Beyond Western ideals: academic freedom, capabilities, and social knowledge
Liz Jackson

8. Selective academic freedom: the case of Hungary
Rebeka Bakos and Andrea Pető

Part IV: Academic freedom: contemporary themes and concluding reflections

9. Epistemic silences: the academic ‘precariat’ and academic freedom
Maria Slowey

10. Interrogating the implications of rankings, open science, and publishing for academic practice and academic freedom
Ellen Hazelkorn 

11. Concluding reflections on academic freedom
Maria Slowey and Richard Taylor

Biography

Maria Slowey is Emeritus Professor, Higher Education Research Centre, Dublin City University, Ireland and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Florence, Italy, and Glasgow, UK.

Richard Taylor is Emeritus Professorial Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge University, UK.