India’s universities aren’t the only ones experiencing stress and turbulence. Scholars and students worldwide face a “continuing global crisis of attacks” driven by an “anti-democratic fear of universities” as bastions of free thought, according to an international network that promotes academic freedom.

Figures released by Scholars at Risk reveal that global higher education was subject to 257 reported attacks in 35 countries between September 1, 2016 and August 31, 2017 including 55 cases involving killings, violence and disappearances. A further 83 incidents led to academics or students being imprisoned, while 45 led to prosecution, according to data published in the organisation’s 2017 Free to Think report. 

Comments Robert Quinn, executive director of Scholars at Risk: “Over the past year, we have witnessed a continuing global crisis of attacks on higher education communities as documented in our previous reports. What has become increasingly clear this year is an anti-democratic fear of universities as spaces in which everyone is free to think, question and share ideas.” According to Quinn, the report “highlights the toll of these attacks on individual lives and serves as a clarion call to meaningful action for states and civil society to ensure the security, well-being and sustainable future of the university space”.

The report also counts 32 cases leading to academics losing their positions and a further 21 that have involved travel restrictions. It highlights the academic purge in Turkey, which in the past year has resulted in 7,023 academics and administrators being targeted for dismissal from their positions, 294 students being expelled, and at least 990 scholars, staff and students being detained or arrested. Mass arrests of student protesters in Venezuela, with reports of widespread custodial abuse and detention without charge, are also major concerns.

Overall there were 63 incidents involving organised student expression, including protests, marches and press conferences, 45 involved attacks on students, as occurred during a Fees Must Fall meeting at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa last autumn, and 18 involved violent or destructive acts committed by the students themselves, such as the protest against Milo Yiannopoulos speech at the University of California, Berkeley.

Meanwhile, legislative amendments threatening the existence of Hungary’s Central European University and the revocation of the European University at St. Petersburg’s licence are further concerns representing “serious threats to academic freedom and institutional autonomy”, according to the report.

(Excerpted and adapted from The Economist and Times Higher Education)