Biggest threats to academic freedom are political – Report

Over half of higher education academics surveyed in an investigation conducted by the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) recently indicated that they believed that academic freedom is under strain, with the most frequently identified challenge to academic freedom being political governance and research funding.

The UKÄ was mandated by the government to undertake an investigation into academic freedom at higher education institutions in January 2023.

The UKÄ mandate followed an announcement by Education Minister Mats Persson in October 2022 of a commission of inquiry into academic freedom. The aim of the minister, who was newly appointed to the position of minister, was to measure the impact of ‘woke leftism’ and ‘cancel culture’ in Swedish universities.

In an op-ed published in the newspaper Expressen on 9 November 2022, the minister expressed his concern that “identity politics are intruding into the academic world”, and cited an investigative programme broadcast on Swedish television (Kalla fakta), in which lecturers claimed they had to avoid certain sensitive subjects.

The newly delivered report aimed to create an understanding of the work of higher education institutions in supporting and protecting academic freedom and their contribution to an academic culture in which there is free pursuit of knowledge and its dissemination.

The 302-page report, Academic freedom in Sweden. A governmental assignment on higher education institutions’ work with academic freedom was presented on 17 May at a UKÄ conference in Stockholm.

The report, authored by Caroline Tovatt (UKÄ project leader), Martin Bergman, Carl Braunerhielm, Charlotte Ejsing, Lovisa Hellberg and Kristina Sundberg, summarises the responses from higher education institutions on the issue of academic freedom and highlights any violations of academic rights that could serve as illustrations to solve problems relating to the issue.

Survey of academics

In addition to a literature review conducted by consultancy company Sweco on the handling of academic freedom at universities in the USA, the EU, Germany and the Nordic countries, the UKÄ report contained a survey, available in both English and Swedish, which drew on a sample of 10,027 academic staff members from a population of over 40,929 scientific personel at Swedish higher education institutions.

There was a 38% response rate to the survey. Of those 53% indicated that academic freedom faces challenges.

The challenge identified most often (29%) by respondents was political governance of research. Next most reported was research funding at 28% while homogenity in research culture, adaptation to common norms and not daring to take up controversial questions was reported 10% of the time.

Among those researchers who said there are challenges, 33% said they had changed research focus and 26% said that they avoid research on controversial issues.

Project leader Caroline Torvatt said the results demonstrate that it is difficult to defend academic freedom. In certain circumstances the right of free speech and academic freedom can be challenged. Everyone has a responsibility to protect academic freedom, but the higher education institutions carry the final responsibility, she said.

‘Worse than expected’ – Minister

In response to the report, Persson told The Swedish Daily News or SvD the results were "worse than [he] had anticipated".

“Many scientists describe a low ceiling, that a culture of silencing exists. This huge and important report that is building on a survey sent to [over] 10,000 teachers and researchers, finds that every second teacher, doctorate student and researcher reports that academic freedom at Swedish higher education institutions is challenged today. And three quarters of these think that this has led to some form of change in their behaviour.

“Few of them seek support from their institution when their academic freedom is threatened and only one-fifth of them report having received sufficient support,” Persson said.

However, in an op-ed article in Aftonbladet on 15 May 2024 associate professor of gender studies at Lund University Rebecca Selberg said the investigation showed that Persson was wrong in his analysis of the prevalence of cancel culture.

“As expected, the investigation finds that the analysis of the minister was not correct: less than 1% of the respondents in the UKÄ survey answer that the so-called cancel culture is a problem. Instead, the analysis finds that political itchy fingers and the system for research funding are regarded as the big threats to academic freedom,” she wrote.

On 15 May academic Elsa Kugelberg published an op-ed article in Dagens Nyheter in which she wrote: “The government wants academic staff that obey – and call this freedom.”

She said a liberal higher education policy demands respect for universities’ institutional independence, but the current goverment was “dragging us in the opposite direction”.

This article was followed on 19 May by an editorial by Dagens Nyheter criticising Persson’s policies (it was not the first, as reported by University World News) and arguing that the investigation ordered by the minister himself had demonstrated that he is wrong on ‘wokeism’.

The latest editorial states: “When Mats Persson is talking to DN he waves away the problem of political governance and thinks that we are in need of ‘a balance between political governance and independence’.

“Suddenly academic freedom is no longer fundamental. Instead, he thinks that the researchers report that their freedom is restricted due to norms and social control. And his diagnosis of this illness? ‘Wokeism’, once more.”

The real challenges to academic freedom

Professor Ole Petter Ottersen, former rector of the University of Oslo and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and now acting secretary-general of the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities in Brussels, told University World News the conclusions of the latest report should come as a surprise to no-one... “with the possible exception of the minister himself who initiated the current analysis based on preconceptions that are now irrevocably broken”.

Ottersen said rather than ‘cancel culture’ and ‘wokeism’ the real challenges are increased political interference and “an exposure to hatred and threats that cause scientists to abandon research on controversial topics”.

“Political interference has manifested itself in a number of ways such as the government’s sudden withdrawal of funding for development research and the recent attack on universities’ open, freestanding courses.

“One might hope that the current report could provide for a new, evidence-based dialogue on how to effectively protect academic freedom and institutional autonomy. We all know that academic freedom is not a privilege for the few but a recipe for societal progress,” he said.

Professor Erik Renström, vice-chancellor of Lund University and vice-chair of the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions internationalisation expert group, told University World News the fact that most people in the survey “believe that academic freedom is challenged by political governance and political influence and by the research funding system” was an “important signal to the government and the Swedish parliament”.

“My biggest concern is that researchers state that they tend to change their research focus and researchers and teachers choose to avoid research and education topics that can be perceived as controversial.

“A free academy requires courageous researchers, teachers and students. The braveness that we ask for, requires support from colleagues and employers. This is an important signal to university management and shows the importance of strong and available support,” he said.

Types of academic freedom

Topias Tolonen-Weckström, chairperson of the Doctoral Committee at the Swedish National Union of Students who was a panel-member at the UKÄ 17 May conference, said it was important to note that “the mandate regarding UKÄ’s report does not cover academic freedom between the government and the higher education institutes, namely institutional autonomy, political steering, and research financing”.

He told University World News: “This is noteworthy, as the report notes that the reported primary threats to academic freedom in Sweden concern political governance and research funding.

“For example, the report states that regarding the Academic Freedom Index, in Sweden the index on institutional autonomy is lower than the other indices, and moreover in decline.

“The report also states that Sweden is one of the EU countries with the most academic freedom in practice, while the legal protection of academic freedom is among the weakest in EU countries. Thus, our main worry regarding academic freedom lies outside the scope of UKÄs publication.”

He added: “When it comes to academic freedom between the individual and the higher education institutions, the report gives interesting insights. To me, the main insights from the report are that researchers value academic freedom highly, and that the higher education institutions in Sweden generally have the tools to tackle internal ‘threats’ to academic freedom.

“The higher education institutions should be able to simultaneously ensure their students’ rights to critique teaching (and other activities of their higher education institutions) while ensuring a safe working environment for their teachers.

“Similarly, the higher education institutions should have robust policies in place regarding the teachers’ rights, have clear guidelines on how to act when a teacher or a student faces threats, and support their researchers in public discussion and research outreach.”

Tolonen-Weckström explained: “Finally, to me the publication suggests that there should be continuous discussion and education on academic freedom within the higher education institutions. Academic freedom is an ideal which can never be 100% achieved, and instead it’s diluted by many factors.

“For example, from the government’s perspective some fiscal and utility arguments might be used to steer the academia. Similarly, the directional right of the employer, together with the publish or perish culture, might also reduce the researchers freedom.

“The report states that too many researchers self-report on having their academic freedom challenged, but since the concept of academic freedom is so vast, it's difficult to draw conclusive conclusions of possible actions.

“However, it seems clear to me that institutional autonomy should be strengthened in Sweden, and the institutions should provide their researchers with a nourishing research environment.”

Constitutional protection

Lars Geschwind, director of the Association of University Teachers and Researchers (SULF), said the report confirmed many of the concerns that SULF had identified before.

“The report shows that political governance is a significant problem for academic staff, but also that more can be done at the institutional level. SULF is advocating for constitutional protection for academic freedom to protect it from political governance.

“The fact that academic staff report they haven’t received sufficient support indicates that institutions need to improve their work environment management. There is a large discrepancy between work environment policies at the institutional level and how work environment management affects academic staff,” Geschwind said.

Jacob Färnert, president of SFS, the Swedish National Union of Students, said: “Based on the UKÄ report, SFS stresses the need to boost university independence to protect academic freedom. The survey shows that political interference and funding issues are the main threats, not cancel culture. The report also misses the point that students’ freedom to study and influence their education is part of academic freedom. It seems as if UKÄ has completely overlooked the concept of Lernfreiheit in their discussion of academic freedom.”