Chapter 1. History, Development and Importance of Academic
Freedom
The history of pursuing the knowledge is ancient. Nowadays, we have educational institutions
around the world which have a long history of existence and their role and contribution in
developing academic culture, creating values, shaping the future of the society is priceless.
Educational Institutions are not only buildings and temples of knowledge, these are the places
where people have to be formed in mature citizens, where public good has to be created, new
ideas have to be born, new findings have to be made and most importantly it should bring
development.
Academic freedom is the very important part of the educational institutions’ mission even though
nowadays it is not protected and many countries do not recognize the importance of it.
Post
Soviet Union countries have achieved the certain level of understanding the importance of the
issue however, it is still not secured worldwide. (Altbach P. G., 2005).
1.1.Defining the Concept of Academic Freedom
Even though, the academic freedom has become a very complex concept in modern world the
idea about it is the one, it is about pursuing the truth by scholars without external pressures
(Downs, 2009).
I believe that the academic freedom must be supported on all stages of education however, I see
the vital role of scholars on a higher education level to express, demonstrate and determine the
mission and vision of university without any interference. This level of education aims shaping
and forming mature citizens with the right values.
The fact that the academic freedom plays important role in western world is proved by
establishing AAUP (American Association of University Professors).
The association was formed in 1915 in response to the current challenges related to the dismal to
the university professors. The aim of the association together with the AAC (Association of
American Council) was to support and formulate the basic principles of academic freedom
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AAUP (American Association of University Professors) in 1940 Statement of Principles of
Academic Freedom and Tenure defined academic freedom as:
1. Teachers are given full freedom in research and publications.
2. Teachers have the freedom in discussing the subjects in the classroom however,
they also have the responsibility not to bring irrelevant subjects for the discussion
which may lead to controversies.
3. Teachers should respect the opinion of other people, they have to be accurate
what they say and must understand and realize that they may be judged by the
society for their opinion even if they demonstrate their ideas as citizens and not
academics (AAUP, 1940).
In modern world, the definition of academic freedom has broadened. Suitable budget, good
university faculties, access to technology, all of these aspects of teaching and learning are
regarded as part of the academic freedom (Altbach P. G., 2009). Though the main idea stays the
same.
On the other hand, academic freedom cannot be limitless. Government has legislative right to
limit the freedom when it comes to ethical concerns and in some cases scientific researches when
it involves unaccepted actions (Hoffmann & Knzelbach, 2018).
1.2 History of Developing Academic Freedom in Higher Education
Institutions
The roots and the principles of academic freedom come from Europe and it was conditioned by
the ancient civilization and culture spread on the continent. In ancient times, the education was
church related where the priests had the responsibility to educate people. The idea of freedom of
speech and the freedom given to academics did not exist.
In ancient times, in different parts of the world there were educational institutions where people
could have obtained higher level education. However, the first universities in the world appeared
in 12-13th century. The system and ideas have developed afterwards. The current model of the
university that we have nowadays is the model of Medieval University and what’s more, it is a
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result and the product of the interaction between the ancient and medieval educational
institutions that existed and functioned by that time in different parts of the world (Alemu, 2018).
The table below demonstrates the establishment of ancient educational institutions in different
parts of the world:
Table 1. Higher Learning Institutions, c. 2257 BCE-1303 AD
Higher Learning Institutions
Location
Date of Foundation
Shanghai “higher school”
China
2257-2208 BCE
Imperial Central School
China
1046-249 BCE
Takshashila University, Taxila
Pakistan
7th century BCE
Nalanda University, Bihar
India
5th century BCE
Plato’s Academy/Athens
Greece
387 BCE
Nanjing University
China
258 AD
Ethiopian Higher Church Education
Ethiopia
Since 4th century
Ez-Zitouna University
Tunisia
732 AD
University of Salerno
Italy
9th Century AD
University of Magnaura
Constantinople
848 AD
University of Qaraw y n (or al-
Morocco (Fez)
859
Al-Azhar University
Cairo
970 AD
Temple of Literature
Hanoi, Vietnam
1076
University of Bologna
Italy
1088
University of Paris
France
1150
University of Oxford
England
1167
Sankore University
Timbuktu
12th century
University of Cambridge
England
1209
University of Salamanca
Spain
1218
University of Montpellier
France
1220
University of Padua
Italy
1222
University of Naples
Italy
1224
Karaouine)
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University of Toulouse
France
1229
University of Coimbra
Portugal
1290
Universidad Complutense de
Spain
1293
University of Lleida
Spain
1300
University of Rome La Sapienza
Italy
1303
Madrid
Source: Universities, 2014; Lulat, 2005; Welikala, 2011; Perkin, 2007; Arbaoui, 2012; and
Adams et al., 2010 as cited in (Alemu, 2018)
The birth and formation of the concept of academic freedom took place in 19th century and it is
related to the Prussian scientist Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt.
Nowadays, Humboldt is regarded as a founder of modern university model, which has had a
considerable impact on the development of other educational institutions in and outside
Germany. By opening Berlin University the new era in education has started. Berlin University
was the first educational institution which showed example how the research can be done at HEI.
Even though, academic freedom had several different understanding by that time, Humboldt
supported the idea that the academics should have been given the freedom in terms of delivering
lecture and seminars. On the other hand he believed in governmental control for those who
wanted to have an access to university and take the academic posts. He had fair arguments to
explain the above mentioned: 1. He questioned the fair assessment of candidates by faculty and
2. He highlighted the responsibility of universities as an educational institutions to train good
officials (ÖSTLING, 2018).
1.3 Importance of Academic freedom
If we look back into the history, there are many examples around the world that prove that
people and academics did not have the right to demonstrate their positions or determine
academic plans. For example execution of Socrates, Bruno’s and Galileo’s arrests, are the real
examples of pressure on academics for expressing their views and not accepting the set of
standards that had been prevalent by that time (Ledoux & Marshall, 2010).
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Also latest history is the good example how the freedom of expression was dealt with, for
example in Soviet Union the Scientific research papers were strictly controlled by the
governmental bodies and the freedom to research, investigate, analyze and discuss was strictly
limited.
In modern world, when the world development is progressing fast and the educational
institutions achieved the highest level of development hierarchy, still highlighting the Importance
of academic freedom is necessary and in many countries academics are struggling to protect it.
Unfortunately, even now, Academic freedom is experiencing high pressure and attack in many
countries nowadays, there are
real examples of countries how the academic freedom is
perceived and treated, for example in Serbia, for the reason of opposing Milosevic Regime, the
academics have been arrested. In some Asian countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore, some
topics cannot be discussed and published by researchers as it is strictly controlled by government
side. All these underline the pressure of the freedom of speech in academic sphere. In modern
world, the existence of the higher education depends on the academic freedom and hopefully
some of the post Soviet Union Countries achieved to have the rights of freedom of speech.
Surprisingly the issue is not the top priority for modern world. As it is not often discussed by the
huge influential organizations (Altbach P. G., 2007).
It is also worth mentioning that academic freedom supports critical thinking and enquire based
learning when the students’ role in learning process is emphasized. In a broader picture,
it
greatly benefits the society and serves a social good in terms of giving rights to academics to
choose what is the most appropriate to teach and also to students to demonstrate their positions
freely (Blessinger & Wit, 2018). At the same time academics have the responsibility towards
society. They should spread and demonstrate knowledge outside the campus as well and interact
with the society. All this serves the one idea – “Socially Engaged Academic Freedom”
(Hoffmann & Knzelbach, 2018).
Fuchs relates academic freedom to the more effective function of the educational institution and
to the student academic freedom as an element of the whole system. He claims that the
constitution must protect the academics and students as well as faculty members from the violent
actions such as persecution of teachers and students from educational institutions because of
their race. He also believes that unless autonomy and freedom for academic institutions exist,
intellectual exchange and knowledge is protected (F.Fuchs, 1963).
5
Per Hudson and William, without academic freedom the existence of educational institution is
pointless and as they claim:
“Academic freedom matters because it allows for the unrestricted pursuit and passing on
of knowledge. Knowledge advances through the freedom to provoke, cause offence and
upset the status quo. Without Academic freedom the existence of educational institution
is pointless” (Hudson & Williams, 2016, p. 16).
Chapter 2 The Impact of Accrediting Agencies on
Academic Freedom and on the Institutions’ performance.
In pervious chapter I have mentioned and discussed the crucial role of academic freedom
in higher education institutions in modern world. Now this chapter is dedicated to
highlight the importance of accreditation process at educational institutions and identify
the impact of accreditation on academic freedom and institutions performance.
Globalization has brought fast changes in educational systems so the quality assurance
can be named as one of the biggest challenges in nowadays educational institutions
worldwide. The demand on quality is felt more in 21st century than in other years. Within
these circumstances, it became necessary to differentiate educational institutions by the
quality label (Martin, 2007) so the different internal and external quality control
mechanism have been introduced, to scrutinize the quality assurance in educational
institutions and meet the expectations of the society. The word itself- accreditation comes
from Latin where the “credito” means trust. So the student entering the educational
institution has the trust to the system (Alstete, 2007) .
If we define the term –accreditation, per CHEA (Council for Higher Education
Accreditation) accreditation process is an external quality review to pursue quality
improvement in educational institutions (CHEA, 2002). The general principle and the
aim of the accrediting bodies process is regarded to improve existing level of
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educational institution (samar Aad ) while Rahadja & Lutfai, define the accreditation
process as an assessment of educational institution by independent bodies which
determine the quality of standards (Rahardja & Lutfiani, 2017)
In the developed countries the post-secondary education is supported by the accreditation
agencies which evaluate educational institutions whether these intuitions are able to
provide high quality education, or whether they are able to offer sufficient facilities to
students.
In each country the accreditation process is different and the difference and the
specification of the accreditation process can be determined by the law and policy of the
certain countries.
If we take an example of Georgia and the Unites States we will see the considerable
difference between the accreditation processes of these two:
In the US, history of the educational institutions accreditation comes from 19th century.
Nowadays, Accrediting Agencies in the United States are non -governmental and enjoy
freedom and autonomy from the US federal government. The Department of Education
relies on and trusts accrediting agencies although, the accrediting agencies have to go
through several procedures set by the ED in order to be recognized by the federal
government (Hegji, 2020).
While in Georgia, Educational Quality Enhancement (EQE) was established and this
authority manages and conducts quality assurance and accreditation procedures in
educational institutions in Georgia and the accreditation process is directly related to the
institutions’ financial wellbeing, as non - accredited HEI institutions do not receive
governmental educational funds (European Commission TEMPUS, 2010).
So here arises the question, should the accreditation process be governmental or non –
governmental? Which one can bring more benefit to educational institution? Dr.
Rebecca Frawley, in her article discusses the disadvantages of governmental
accreditation and she mentions that “An accreditation process conducted by the federal
government, however, would almost certainly focus more on compliance with regulations
and economy-based standards rather than on using data and assessment results for
forward-looking improvement” (Frawley, 2014, p. 3). I also support the idea of university
7
accreditation process been undertaken by the non-governmental accreditation agencies, as
the government does not interfere in academic life. Insttutions are not under the pressure
of governmental ideology and enjoy academic freedom autonomy.
Nowadays, the accreditations focus on institutions effectiveness rather than on rankings.
Majority of highly trusted universities have already developed their own programmes to
control and measure quality and effectiveness of the programmes and processes
(Volkwein, 2010).
2.1 The Impact of Accreditation
In modern developed world it became necessary to have some standards that measure the
quality. Even though the quality is a broad definition sometimes it is difficult to measure,
it gives difference and identifies what is bad and what is good.
In order to promote quality, international quality standards like ISO9000 was created.
Pursuing the quality improvement in education institutions has number of important
reasons which Sallis calls imperatives, these imperatives are:
1. Moral - when professor and administrators are morally responsible to provide
appropriate education.
2. Professional - when academics have professional responsibility to improve quality of
teaching.
3. Competitive – when educators tackle the challenge by working on the service
improvement and curriculum development.
4. Accountability- when college and universities are accountable of the demands the
community where they exist.
Failure in one of these imperatives may put the existence of the institution under a danger
(Sallis, 2002).
Many believe that the accreditation has an influence on students’ choice, which
university to trust and pursue, which is logical, educational institutions are labeled
according to the educational standards and selection process for students is easier. On the
other hand, the report of American council on Education claims that the accredited
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institutions have more trust from the society, it highlights the quality of the institutions.
However the aim of the accreditation has never been to determine the students’ choice. In
fact, the pure purpose of the accreditation is to improve the quality. Accreditation
shouldn’t distract the faculty to define what should be taught, accreditations should
protect the academic freedom and autonomy of the educational institutions as it is a
fundamental idea of the educational intuition and it should serve society as well as
institution (Amercican Council on Education, 2012).
Here we mentioned the academic freedom in the context of accreditation process and it is
worth mentioning that the accreditation process can be the challenge to the academic
freedom as its standards may limit the freedom within institution. In those countries
where the accreditation process is conducted by the political interest and the government
interferes in the process the academic freedom is under threat.
For example in the USA, in order to protect academic freedom throughout the
accreditation process, accrediting agencies take the following steps: during the meetings
and workshops they put emphases on the essential role of the academic freedom in the
educational institutions, discuss and focus on challenges that it has nowadays and “affirm
the role that accreditation plays in the protection and advancement of academic freedom”
(AAUP , 2012, p. 2).
As defined in this chapter the accreditation is the step forward to the improvement and
development. So accordingly the impact on the accreditation process can be measured
positively if we also consider and review the research papers of researchers who have
studied the impact of accreditation on higher education institutions.
For example, Christophe Lejeune and Alain Vas in their research paper study the
correlation between the accreditation process and the effectiveness of the educational
institution and what effect it has on the culture of the organization. In their research paper
they review the benefits that the accreditation process implies, these benefits can be:

Accreditation strengthens the internal processes

Brings more flexibility to the organizations

Strengthens innovation and control

Supports more effective coordination between the employees within the
organization.
9
According to the research results, the impact of the accreditation on the effectiveness of
the organization is positive though, it greatly depends on what type of accreditation is
undertaken by the accrediting bodies. Also, the same research findings show that the
accreditation may positively affect the performance of the university however it might
not be linked to the improved students’ satisfaction (Lejeune & Vas, 2009).
In education, accreditation is compared to the stamp which ensures and confirms that the
educational institutions undertook the external evaluation according to the requirements.
This is a tool to of quality assurance. So logically the accreditation focuses to increase
the excellence in higher education system. So per Pradeep Kumar, Balvinder Shukla and
Don Passey the accreditation has a significantly positive impact on research, as it
promotes research and encourages teaching and learning in functional area. The
positive sides of accreditation is witnessed in transferring the student from one institution
to another.
On the other hand, Michael W. Ledoux, Thomas Marshall, and Nadine McHenry in their
article discuss how the accreditation agencies can positively influence curriculum
development, though negatively impact individual’s identity within the educational
institution and divest institutions from academic freedom. They believe in existential
freedom and think that pursuing someone’s rule is an individual choice.
They also reckon that there might be certain professional rules and standards, however
these rules must be introduced by individuals. Educators lose their identity and academic
path (Reference Erosion).
To sum up, the accreditation process is a great tool to ensure quality in the educational
institutions. The process aims to bring development and benefit to the institution.
Accreditation process supports increased effectiveness strengthens internal processes and
brings the innovation to the institution, on the other hand it takes away identity from the
educators and makes them be set in certain frames which can be regarded as a drawback
of the process.
Accreditation process and the academic freedom have correlation, though the process
should not limit the freedom and hence support it as much as possible and in these
chapter couple of steps have been suggested how accreditors can protect the academic
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freedom during the process, as academic freedom plays vital role, it is the fundamental
idea and main pillar of the educational system all around the world.
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