At their best, great universities have provided oases around the world for free thinking, research, and unfettered innovation. The question is, what happens when a free university is subject to the dictates of autocratic governments? The dynamics include both legal and political elements.
The European University at St. Petersburg (founded 1994) and the Central European University of Hungary (founded 1991) have both run into challenges by agents of the state. Writing for Inside Higher Education, Ararat Osipian at Pontica Magna Fellow at New Europe Foundation says that private universities operating in "former communist regimes rarely appear in international rankings, and even less so at the top of the leagues tables. Russia has yet to achieve its ambitious goals of placing five of its national universities in the top one hundred spots. World class universities require autonomy" and Osipian asserts that such autonomy is a threat to autocratic states.
Higher education leaders worldwide may or may not fully understand, much less embrace, the reality that freedom of expression is essential to freedom to learn. Engaged learning may unleash forces that are difficult to control in both autocratic and democratic settings. As Osipian indicates, "The strengthening of autocratic regimes in the former communist states is in line with the rise of nationalistic and ethnocentric movements in much of Europe." Both control by autocratic governments and intervention by nationalistic and isolationist forces are anathema to learning.
The controversy escalated into a proposed new law that would prohibit the Central European University of Hungary from continuing to operate. Financier and patron of CEU George Soros was quoted as saying he, "will immediately seek all available legal remedies" because the proposed law "targeted an American institution in a flagrantly discriminatory manner." The European Commission launched an investigation to determine if the proposed laws violate European Union rules.
Central European University has become an international example of the importance of academic freedom in higher education. Detailed plans are in place to defend Central European University through legal and political means. The defense is critical and "matter enormously as an example and precedent for others, above all academic institutions under the specter of intimidation and closure around the world." The European Commission initiated legal action saying that Hungary's proposed law "is not compatible with the fundamental internal market freedoms, notably the freedom to provide services and the freedom of establishment, but also with the right of academic freedom, the right to education and the freedom to conduct a business as provided by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union..."
The European University at St. Petersburg (founded 1994) and the Central European University of Hungary (founded 1991) have both run into challenges by agents of the state. Writing for Inside Higher Education, Ararat Osipian at Pontica Magna Fellow at New Europe Foundation says that private universities operating in "former communist regimes rarely appear in international rankings, and even less so at the top of the leagues tables. Russia has yet to achieve its ambitious goals of placing five of its national universities in the top one hundred spots. World class universities require autonomy" and Osipian asserts that such autonomy is a threat to autocratic states.
Higher education leaders worldwide may or may not fully understand, much less embrace, the reality that freedom of expression is essential to freedom to learn. Engaged learning may unleash forces that are difficult to control in both autocratic and democratic settings. As Osipian indicates, "The strengthening of autocratic regimes in the former communist states is in line with the rise of nationalistic and ethnocentric movements in much of Europe." Both control by autocratic governments and intervention by nationalistic and isolationist forces are anathema to learning.
The controversy escalated into a proposed new law that would prohibit the Central European University of Hungary from continuing to operate. Financier and patron of CEU George Soros was quoted as saying he, "will immediately seek all available legal remedies" because the proposed law "targeted an American institution in a flagrantly discriminatory manner." The European Commission launched an investigation to determine if the proposed laws violate European Union rules.
Central European University has become an international example of the importance of academic freedom in higher education. Detailed plans are in place to defend Central European University through legal and political means. The defense is critical and "matter enormously as an example and precedent for others, above all academic institutions under the specter of intimidation and closure around the world." The European Commission initiated legal action saying that Hungary's proposed law "is not compatible with the fundamental internal market freedoms, notably the freedom to provide services and the freedom of establishment, but also with the right of academic freedom, the right to education and the freedom to conduct a business as provided by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union..."
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