Academic freedom and institutional autonomy

Magna Charta Universitatum is a reference for the fundamental values and principles of the universities. This document emphasizes the importance of institutional autonomy and academic freedom of the universities. These two concepts are generally considered together and often seem to be considered as two sides of the same coin. However these two terms have different meanings.

Academic freedom is the freedom of the academics to pursue their research, teaching, and learning. Magna Charta stated that 'freedom in research and training is the fundamental principle of university life, and governments and universities, each as far as in them lies, must ensure respect for this fundamental requirement'.

Academic freedom according to some school of thoughts has no limits; research and teaching can be done in any way imaginable. However majority will agree that academic freedom cannot be misused as an excuse for laziness or silly behaviour. Academic freedom does not grant freedom to academics to the extent that their research, teaching, learning and deriving conclusions and opinions are not abide by any standards. These work always need to be in accordance with the standards of their academic disciplines. Therefore, in this sense, academic freedom is not absolute.

Institutional autonomy include the right of universities to design their internal structures such as faculties and departments, develop their own policies with regard to their governance including appointment/ election of their their top level authorities. This protects universities from undue interference by governments. However, this doesn't mean that all universities can offer all degrees which would cause problems with regard to the requirements and expectations of the society and the industry. Governments need to carefully design minimum criteria and implementation mechanisms to ensure quality standards before a university could offer a new programme.

Most universities are at least partially funded by the government. Government funding means that money has come from the tax payers of the country. Therefore, accountability measures are needed to be in place to trace the financial handling at the university level and this should not be regarded as a threat to academic freedom and the institutional autonomy.

Some policy instruments which can either promote or impede academic freedom and institutional autonomy are legislation and regulation, education systems and structures, funding, projects and performance review.

References:


http://www.portlandpresspublishing.com/sites/default/files/Editorial/Wenner/WG_86/0860041.pdf


http://media.ehea.info/file/20161208-09-Bratislava/12/8/BFUG_SK_ME_52_9_Fundamental_values_669128.pdf

Different roles of academics today

Academic (noun) is defined in Oxford English dictionary as a teacher or scholar in a university or other institute of higher education. The main responsibilities of an academic are:

• To plan, design, develop and deliver a range of study study programmes which comply with the academic quality standards and regulations of the University
• To undertake high quality research
• To co-ordinate or supervise the work of research assistants and students

Accountabilities or Duties of an academic can be broadly divided into following three categories:

• Teaching and Learning
• Research
• Leadership, management and engagement

Teaching and learning is the role which comes into mind of the when they think about the role of an academic. However current academics play many other roles in addition to this 'main' role which also consume a significant proportion of their time. Academic need to assist the department Head to maintain the teaching standards to comply with the expectation and standards of the University by preparation of teaching and evaluation materials applying innovative, appropriate teaching techniques and assessment procedures to cover breadth and depth of the subject area. Curriculum and course design should be developed considering the available evidence, industrial demands and international standards. An academic should always update his/her knowledge through various methods including reading, engaging in activities of professional bodies and attending seminars, conferences and workshops.

When the area of research is considered, an academic need to carry out independent research with demonstrable impact and contribute to the reputation of research in the university through national/ international collaboration and publication in peer-reviewed international academic journals and other forms of dissemination achieving peer recognition. Through research activities he/she should generate significant external funding and knowledge transfer. An academic should also contribute to peer assessment by acting as an editor for journals, seeking membership of major committees and significant research bodies. Supervision of postgraduate research students and provision of technical inputs to colleagues in their research are also expected from an academic.

Duties and responsibilities which come under leadership, management and engagement include mentoring/ counseling of students/colleagues, promotion of interdisciplinary studies, and developing collaborative arrangements to support teaching. Another role an academic is expected to play is to develop networks, both internally and externally. Internal net works included working groups and committees which have input or contribution to cross university functions. External networks include professional bodies, employers’ associations, group of universities etc where he/she can contribute in the capacity as an external examiner or an advisor. An academic need to contribute to the planning and organising of the unit, undergraduate or postgraduate programmes, and admissions. He/she should contribute to strategic planning at university and also organize staff development and welfare activities.

On average teaching and learning activities contribute to 40-50% of the work load of an academic while the remaining 50-60% is distributed between other activities. Therefore we can see that the term lecturer we use to denote an academic is questionable in the modern world.