A new report on academic freedom in the UK, commissioned by the University and College Union on behalf of its members, has determined that ‘the levels of both the de jure and de facto protection for academic freedom are lower in the UK than in the other EU nations’.

The report, which which was produced by Professor Terence Karran and Ms. Lucy Mallinson of the University of Lincoln School of Education, calls for raising academics’ awareness about the legal meaning of academic freedom and its protection in other parts of the world, and for promoting changes in university policy and UK law in order to facilitate and guarantee this protection. UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt has said:

We believe a free society is one that is defined by robust self-governing institutions that regulate themselves within the law, but outside government influence. The launch of the report at UCU Congress also represents the start of a wider debate on what academic freedom is and how universities must defend it. This is a debate we hope the entire sector will get involved in.

Click on here for key findings of the report, or click on the image above to read the full report.