Academic Freedom and Contemporary Universities

摘要

The article analyses the evolution of the notion "Academic freedom" (AF) from the Middle Ages to the present times. "Academic freedoms" were known in Bologna University and Sorbonne in Paris in 12-14 centuries, but their meaning was not the same that we percept nowadays. AF included at those times rights and privileges of university professors, students and sometimes their families. It was provision of financial support and protection provided by Roman Catholic Church, or later - governments of European lands. AF has changed its meaning in the beginning of the 19th century. V. Fon Humboldt reconsidered the notion of AF, and since then we have understood AF as the freedom to think independently, freedom of scientific search and freedom to choose university courses for students. This meaning is reflected in many documents of academic associations and organizations, such as Magna Charta Universitatum, American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and particular universities. Academic freedom in our modern understanding was an initial value for universities of highly developing industrial world. The article shows that now Academic freedom is in the crisis, but the main reason of its crisis is global economic crisis, new requirements to universities and higher education in a modern globalized world.