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Recalling
that at the International Conference convened by UNESCO in 1950, in
Nice, the Universities of the World stipulated three indissociable
principles for which every university should stand, namely:
the right to pursue knowledge for its own sake and to follow wherever
the search for truth may lead;
the tolerance of divergent opinion and freedom from political
interference;
the obligation as social institutions to promote, through teaching and
research, the principles of freedom and justice, of human dignity and
solidarity, and to develop mutually material and moral aid on an
international level.
Recognising
that over the ensuing half century much has changed: new forms of
higher education have developed; the numbers of universities, of
academic staff, of students and not least the place the University now
occupies in Society have evolved; the emergence of a world economy,
with its benefits and its dangers, brings with it further
responsibilities of a highly practical nature alongside the
University's historic and abiding commitment to universalism,
pluralism and humanism;
Acknowledging
that in the course of the 20th Century, which has seen an
unparalleled growth in knowledge, in research and in their diffusion,
Society has entrusted to the University immense responsibilities in
the common endeavour of human development, social, economic, technical
and cultural advance, and in responding to major planetary problems
such as the preservation of the environment and the eradication of
poverty, violence and social exclusion; and that in its turn the
University is, and will remain, vital in meeting Society's evident
need to accommodate and steer rapid if not radical, change;
Convinced
that human development and the continued extension of knowledge depend
upon the freedom to examine, to enquire and to question, and that
Academic Freedom and University Autonomy are essential to that end;
that moreover the University does not exist for itself or even for the
sake of knowledge but for the benefits it brings to Humankind and to
Society by virtue and in view of its social utility;
Emphasising
that neither Academic Freedom which encompasses the freedom to enquire
and to teach as well as the freedom of students to learn, nor
University Autonomy are privileges but that they are the basic and
inalienable conditions which enable the University as an institution
of scholarship and learning, as too its individual members to meet,
fully to assume and optimally to fulfil the responsibilities Society
confides to both;
Considering
that Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
Articles 13 and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights stipulate that "higher education shall be equally
accessible to all on the basis of merit", underlining the importance
of the full development of the human personality and the strengthening
of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the maintenance
of peace, and that States "undertake to respect the freedom
indispensable for scientific research and creative activity";
Observing
that the fundamental principles on which universities are founded and
which form the basis of their work for the common good have been
reiterated by the international academic community on several
occasions in the recent past (viz. the Declarations of Sienna 1982,
Lima 1988, Bologna 1988, Dar Es Salaam 1990, Kampala 1990, Sinaia
1992, Erfurt 1996) and that they are also specifically highlighted in
the Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching
Personnel, adopted at the 29th Session of the UNESCO General
Conference 1997;
We consider it timely, at the occasion of the UNESCO World Conference
of Higher Education, to reaffirm these principles and to
redefine their implications within the framework of a new
Social Contract which sets out mutual responsibilities, rights and
obligations between University and Society so that they may meet the
challenges of the new Millennium:
1. The principle of Institutional Autonomy can be defined as the
necessary degree of independence from external interference that the
University requires in respect of its internal organisation and
governance, the internal distribution of financial resources and the
generation of income from non public sources, the recruitment of its
staff, the setting of the conditions of study and, finally, the
freedom to conduct teaching and research.
2. The principle of Academic Freedom can be defined as the freedom for
members of the academic community - that is scholars, teachers and
students - to follow their scholarly activities within a framework
determined by that community in respect of ethical rules and
international standards, and without outside pressure.
3. Rights confer obligations. These obligations are as much incumbent
on the individuals and on the University of which they are part, as
they are upon the State and Society.
4. Academic Freedom engages the obligation by each individual member
of the academic profession to excellence, to innovation, and to
advancing the frontiers of knowledge through research and the
diffusion of its results through teaching and publication.
5. Academic Freedom also engages the ethical responsibility of the
individual and the academic community in the conduct of research, both
in determining the priorities of that research and in taking account
of the implications which its results may have for Humanity and
Nature.
6. For its part, the University has the obligation to uphold and
demonstrate to Society that it stands by its collective obligation to
quality and ethics, to fairness and tolerance, to the setting and the
upkeep of standards - academic when applied to research and teaching,
administrative when applied to due process, to the rendering of
accounts to Society, to self-verification, to institutional review and
to transparency in the conduct of institutional self-government.
7. For their part, organising powers and stakeholders public or
private, stand equally under the obligation to prevent arbitrary
interference, to provide and to ensure those conditions necessary, in
compliance with internationally recognised standards, for the exercise
of Academic Freedom by individual members of the academic profession
and for University Autonomy to be exercised by the institution.
8. In particular, the organising powers and stakeholders public or
private, and the interests they represent, should recognise that by
its very nature the obligation upon the academic profession to advance
knowledge is inseparable from the examination, questioning and testing
of accepted ideas and of established wisdom. And that the expression
of views which follow from scientific insight or scholarly
investigation may often be contrary to popular conviction or judged as
unacceptable and intolerable.
9. Hence, agencies which exercise responsibility for the advancement
of knowledge as too particular interests which provide support for, or
stand in a contractual relationship with, the University for the
services it may furnish, must recognise that such expressions of
scholarly judgement and scientific inquiry shall not place in jeopardy
the career or the existence of the individual expressing them nor
leave that individual open to pursual for délit d'opinion on
account of such views being expressed.
10. If the free range of inquiry, examination and the advance of
knowledge are held to be benefits Society derives from the University,
the latter must assume the responsibility for the choices and the
priorities it sets freely. Society for its part, must recognise its
part in providing means appropriate for the achievement of that end.
Resources should be commensurate with expectations - especially those
which, like fundamental research, demand a long-term commitment if
they are to yield their full benefits.
11. The obligation to transmit and to advance knowledge is the basic
purpose for which Academic Freedom and University Autonomy are
required and recognised. Since knowledge is universal, so too is this
obligation. In practice, however, Universities fulfil this obligation
primarily in respect of the Societies in which they are located. And
it is these communities, cultural, regional, national and local, which
establish with the University the terms by which such responsibilities
are to be assumed, who is to assume them and by what means and
procedures.
12. Responsibilities met within the setting of 'national' society,
extend beyond the physical boundaries of that society. Since its
earliest days, the University has professed intellectual and spiritual
engagement to the principles of 'universalism' and to
'internationalism' whilst Academic Freedom and University Autonomy
evolved within the setting of the historic national community. For
Universities to serve a world society requires that Academic Freedom
and University Autonomy form the bedrock to a new Social Contract - a
contract to uphold values common to Humanity and to meet the
expectations of a world where frontiers are rapidly dissolving.
13. In the context of international cooperation, the exercise of
Academic Freedom and University Autonomy by some should not lead to
intellectual hegemony over others. It should, on the contrary, be a
means of strengthening the principles of pluralism, tolerance and
academic solidarity between institutions of higher learning and
between individual scholars and students.
14. At a time when the ties, obligations and commitments between
Society and the University are becoming more complex, more urgent and
more direct, it appears desirable to establish a broadly recognised
International Charter of mutual rights and obligations governing the
relationship between University and Society, including adequate
monitoring mechanisms for its application.
(April 1998) |